Joshua Liner Gallery

Press Release

Joshua Liner Gallery is pleased to present Higashi No Kamisama – God From the East, an exhibition of new paintings by the Seattle-based Japanese artist Yumiko Kayukawa. This is Kayukawa’s first solo show with the gallery.

Full of gamine charm, Pop energy, and graphic color, Yumiko Kayukawa’s vivacious paintings belie the complex dialogue the young artist engages with Japanese art history and her own personal narrative. The small- and medium-sized works—all acrylic and ink on canvas—present deceptively simple portraits of a lovely young woman (an archetypal stand-in for Japanese youth). On closer inspection, the works’ intricate details, settings, and stylistic attitudes reference a wide swath of Japanese visual culture, from ancient Shinto mythology, Japanese folklore, and the iconic Ukiyo-e woodblocks of the 19th-century master Hokusai, to contemporary Manga comics, Anime, and Japanese language characters.

Motifs that unify this suite of twenty paintings include the presence of the plucky, young subject (a symbol of female empowerment), a menagerie of cuddly animals (wolves, frogs, snakes!), and the elaborate accoutrements of domestic ritual, particularly Japanese cuisine. Kawa No Kamisama – God of the River depicts the archetypal girl as a diver swimming amongst giant salamanders, a Hokusai-style tattoo peeking through her sexy wetsuit. In Kukkii Taimu – Cookie Time, she shares tea and cookies with a bear, bat, macaque, and other creatures in a colorful setting speckled with Japanese mums and decoration. In the show’s title work, all manner of Japanese sweets combine to form a torii, an arched gateway to a Shinto shrine, which frames the barefoot girl and a sheep-like “spirit guide.” Kayukawa cites her childhood amid the nature and wildlife of Japan, as well as American pop culture and fashion, as formative influences in her artistic practice.

Born in 1970 and raised in the small town of Naie on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, Yumiko Kayukawa graduated from the Hokkaido College of Art and Design. Recent solo exhibitions of her work include Japanese Wolf , The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, and Extinction, La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles (both in 2008); and Girl Cocktail, M Modern Gallery, Palm Springs (2007). Group exhibitions include: The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful (with Niagara), Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester, England (2008); Tag of War, Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, DC (2007); We’ll Make a Lover of You, Miami Art Center/Art Basel Miami Beach (2006); and Beast From The East (with Moira Hahn), Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle (2005).

Artist

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