We met in school in Portland OR. We cross paths every once in a while, in Portland, Japan, and most recently, in New Zealand, where she currently lives and works as a painter. An amazing one in fact.
In college years, we went on a backpacking trip for a month in France and Italy, visiting different angles, curves and leaded glass. We survived on baguettes, fresh fruits from the market and cheese.
In Japan, we strolled around alleys and hidden spots in Kyoto and Osaka on the weekends where we found comfort. It was a time we treasured away from the hectic + complicated everyday life.
This most recent rendez-vous, Brien and I got to visit her lovely and inspiring studio and her dwelling in Wellington, New Zealand. It is full of light that comes through the leaded glass of this Victorian house on a slant of a hill.
The pictures tell all. I am happy to see in person that she is having a vibrant life.
I love her vibrant use of colors, textures, organic shapes and expressionistic lines juxtaposed with straight lines of the architecture. Her experimental use of medium is fascinating, using a combination of oil based paints with acrylics on substrates such as paper to create a very rich but transluscent surface, reminiscent of the unpredictable nature of watercolors.
Yukari's upcoming show "Down on the Ground" opens tomorrow, Friday January 17, 2014 at City Art Gallery in Christchurch, NZ.
If you are in the area, please join her at the opening reception from 5:30pm.
I shall be joining her in spirit.
Visit her website here to view a complete array of her work, become her fan on facebook here to see what she is currently up to!
So nice to reconnect with you once again, Yukari!
Cheers to you and your colors and dots and lines.
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