Tokyo a la Mode. Web Magazine for Japanese Fashion and Urban Culture

Sweet on the Eyes

By Bobby /May 24, 2006
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The artist insisted that the enigmatic girls in her paintings are not her.  But to see Yumiko Kayukawa in person, you can’t help but notice the striking similarities between the artist and her work.  The matching long, jet black hair, pale skin and Asian eyes—you’d swear Yumiko was into self-portraits.

“Wound” (image for promotion use only)

However, Yumiko pointed out that Japanese girls look that way.  “A typical Asian girl has black hair and almond eyes,” she said in stating the obvious.  But Yumiko is much more than typical.

Born and raised in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, Yumiko studied art in Sappporo, the island’s largest city famous for its Snow Festival.  Her style has been called “candy pop” for its glossy look and bright colors and is easily compared to anime, although it is far from it.  And while Yumiko’s motif-heavy work is very Japanese in origin, it is here in America where she is making a name for herself.

Her success here in the U.S. is due to the dedicated work of her friend and business partner, Gabriela Pedroza.  Gabriela set up Yumiko’s first art show in her hometown of Seattle five years ago.  When not arranging for new shows, Gabriela built and manages the artist’s website at http://www.sweetyumiko.com.  The two became friends when Gabriela lived and worked in Sapporo as an English language teacher on the JET Program, a teaching and cultural exchange program sponsored by the Japanese government.

Gabriela shared that Yumiko was a little shy when they first met.  “I don’t think she talked to me for the first month,” said the former teacher.  But the friendship was maintained even after Gabriela returned to the Pacific Northwest.  And according to the artist’s website, it was when Yumiko was visiting Gabriela in Seattle that she was inspired to create a style defined as “sagacious Japanese tradition in synergy with the jubilant irreverence of American pop culture.”

The Japanese tradition referred to could be the use of kanji characters or repeating patterns such as cherry blossoms.  It might even be the imagery of nature represented by the artist’s fixation with wild animals.  The obvious observation however, is that Yumiko is an artist who emulates anime.

While Yumiko will admit to growing up with anime and even dabbled in creating her own manga, or Japanese comic book, the only thing anime about her art is the flat look, characterized by staying within two-dimensions and made popular by Takashi Murakami and the Super Flat movement.  In comparing her work to Japanese animation, Yumiko noted, “In anime, the eyes and breasts are larger than normal and the hair color is sometimes unnatural.  This is not my style.”

So what is her style?  While the subjects of her paintings are fashionably-dressed, rosy-cheeked all-Japanese girls, it’s really the emotion that gets to you, or more to the point, the lack of it.  When you stare into a Yumiko Kayukawa painting, it stares right back at you—or really right through you.  Her characters are stripped of any kind of feeling and defiant in posture.  Their silence leaves you uncomfortable.  You find it difficult to empathize with a Kayukawa girl because she is blocking you out.

Also, at first glance, the paintings are seen as sexually provocative.  Skimpy clothing reveals bare skin.  A suggestive pose entices stray thoughts.  But could it be that Yumiko is playing with you?  It is possible that one person can look at her paintings and see an Asian fetish while another person sees girl power and a third can see the fantasy associated with anime.  It is as if the observers are filling the emotional void with their own sensibilities.

View a Kayukawa painting for yourself and once you see beyond the motifs and pop elements and with awareness for the cultural context, a feeling will be evoked and that is what all good art inspires to do.  Check her website for upcoming shows and to see images of her artwork at http://www.sweetyumiko.com.