Japanese Pop Art - Yumiko Kayukawa

I came across this japanese pop artist which I found whilst looking up japanese pop art who's work I really like and is strongly cultural. She uses repetitive themes and elements in her work which looks very pattern like and I have also found some art by her which I think also have elements or pay homage to historical japanese print art. Yumiko Kayukawa grew up in the small town of Naie in Hokkaido, Japan. She found her love of animals and nature in this pristine, natural surroundings which later became a consistent theme throughout her work. As she grew up, Kayukawa drew inspiration from American pop culture such as Rock & Roll, films and fashion. These influences are fused with modern and traditional japanese motifs to create her unique style. Kayukawa's debut as an artist was with a manga feature when she was only 16. She later attended and graduated from Bisen Art School in Sapporo, Japan.

As I was going through her work I noticed that the background in the illustration on the left looked incredibly familiar to me. I had seen it before when researching historical japanese print work and came across a painting of mt.fuji which looks exactly the same. From this I can see that this piece of work of hers is clearly paying homage to the original print and she has adapted it to her own personal style by adding in illustrations of animals and nature and of a young girl in the foreground of the image, as well as adding a floral frame and the background to make it look as if she were looking out of a window at the mountain or as if she was about to go into the painting itself of the mountain whilst looking back. I like how the most foreground objects are outline less and only have one colour such as the grass and plants. It's simple and the style is very representative of japanese art. Kayukawa commonly draws japanese women in her art with oriental eyes, black hair and blushed cheeks, she rarely draws men though some of her art does include male figures and she never draws foreigners with western features even though she draws inspiration from the american pop culture. Each of her works always have a repetitive theme within them also for example this one has flowers that are repeated to create the corners of the border, other examples of repetition i've seen in her work is birds, flowers or fruit and food. The colour scheme feels very autumn and warm and the contrast of the red mountain against the blue sky is very strong and vibrant and works well with the brown and musty green shades of objects in the foreground.

This image reminds me of the historical print with the big wave or tsunami with the little boats as the hair of the woman uses shapes and lines which are similar to the original print. I find it interesting how the hair of the woman forms into a vigorous wave and there are small objects floating atop it like a ship, barrels, lanterns etc. much like in the original wave print. I like how she has also again made it into her one personal style by adding floral elements and imagery of animals and a woman as the main focus. I think the black and the teal of the hair/ waves work well and it looks very refined and makes the woman appear sophisticated, I looked up symbolism of colours previously and black and teal both are connotations of sophistication. I also think the simple beige background works well as it doesn't draw attention away from the detail of the hair and with the flowers and the whale it looks very calm and not too busy or over crowded. 

This illustration uses a complementary colour scheme with red and green which are opposites on the colour wheel making the colours stand out against each other but not in a clashy way. I think the way this image is composed reminds me somewhat of a japanese movie poster or front cover for a book or dvd case, with the title going down the middle of the gap between the row of trees. The text feels subtle and isn't too bold and stand out-ish which I think works well with the tranquil theme that the green bamboo trees create. The image somewhat reminds me of the jungle book with the green scenery and the girl wearing red just like the main character of jungle book and the image of the monkey peeping out from behind the trees. As much as i like the complementary colour scheme I won't be using complementary colours for my own work. Red and green are also festive colours and red symbolises happiness (only in japan) whilst green is a connotation of nature and youth which I find relevant to the image as the japanese characters translate to 'bamboo child' and children are associated with youth.

Usually Kayukawa uses a complementary colour scheme for many of her pieces but in this one she has changed it up by using a neon colour scheme which looks much brighter and vibrant. In this image she is using a repetition of birds all in the same angle and pose but with different colours and patterns and hasn't used any floral imagery in this piece like she commonly does through out her work. The prominent colour of the birds is yellow and she has used this for the colour of the girl's clothes and telephone also so that she can sit comfortably among the birds in the composition. The blending between 2 colours in the birds and the blue sky in the background merge together in a fluffy or spongey kind of texture where the colours meet. The title of this image which is also what the characters in the image translate to is "Wild Bird", the image in general with the title give off a tropical vibe. I feel like most of the titles of her pieces are very literal in relation to the content of the illustration.