YUKA YAMAGUCHI - KALEIDOSCOPE MINDS
Reception: Saturday, April 1st, 2 - 4 PM.
April 1 - May 11
Art Placement is delighted to present "Kaleidoscope Minds” a solo exhibition of Yuka Yamaguchi’s colour pencil drawings from 2011 - 2023. Intricately detailed, Yamaguchi’s drawings are surreal visions that blend a cheerful lightness with darker undertones. Using bright colours and an abundance of whimsical plant and animal imagery, her drawings evoke a lighthearted nostalgia for fairy tales and children’s storybooks. In contrast, the almost imperceptible sense of melancholy or even dread that lingers in her character’s expressions suggests more complicated narratives. Balancing the tension of opposing forces--lightness and darkness, happiness and sadness, excitement and apprehension--Yamaguchi presents a complex beauty that resonates more deeply and powerfully.

Yuka Yamaguchi is a self-taught visual artist from Kobe, Japan. She moved to Canada in 2000, settling in Saskatoon in 2005. Colour pencils and paper are her medium. Her drawings are developed intuitively, without pre-planning. She believes in the power of the unconscious mind and, in one sense, her art is a way for her to explore the relationship between body and mind. She has exhibited her work regionally in Saskatoon and Edmonton, and internationally in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Berlin, Portland, San Francisco, and Taipei.

Artist Statement:

I draw what I find attractive at the time. As I draw, I start to see more images in my head: from nature, people around me, and random everyday objects. They are like many dots floating in my head, combining in different ways depending on my point of view, changing shapes in my mind like a kaleidoscope.

Installation Images: