[Artist Talk] Breathing new life into ready-made products. Contemporary artist Yukari Araki

Yukari Araki, a contemporary artist who is active mainly in Nagoya, and Rika Ito, a printmaker. Also as a writer, Rika writes attractive articles for Life Designs.

Just the other day, we asked Rika if we could feature more artists who are active in the Tokai area, and she introduced us to Yukari, which made this interview possible.

Yukari is a contemporary artist who uses various ready-made products around her to create a single work. This time, we asked Rika for an interview, and she fully brought out Yukari's charm.

Who’s YUKARI ARAKI?

"Chair thinking of the stars" (2011) Niiya Beach, Saku-shima

YUKARI ARAKI was born in 1983 in Mie Prefecture. She creates sculptures and installations as if in dialogue with objects and spaces. She is a contemporary artist based in Aichi, Japan.

In 2005, she graduated from Nagoya University of Arts, Department of Fine Arts, Fine Arts Elective Course, and in 2006, she completed his studies at Ein Sof Dispatch (Nagoya), where she has exhibited since 2007. In 2012, she held a solo and group exhibition at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, including a collaborative exhibition with the curator and the artist, APMoA Project, ARCH "Anything and everything that is nothing".

Currently, a solo exhibition is being held at Hisaya Odori "Chocolatory Takasu".

[Solo Exhibition Gravity of Gaze] Installation View (2016) LOKO GALLERY Photo: DARUMA Yoshihiro Ozaki

"Blue" (2013) photo credit DARUMA Yoshihiro Ozaki

You can see that it's Yukari Araki's work.

Yukari Araki is a contemporary artist based in Aichi who is active both in Japan and overseas.

Rika Ito lives in Aichi Prefecture. She is active in illustration, design, teaching, etc., with a focus on printmaking.

They are both graduates of the Nagoya University of Arts. Both are active as artists and lecturers at their alma mater, Nagoya University of Arts.

Yukari: "How did we become friends? I was in a fine arts elective course where we created spatial expressions and three-dimensional works using a variety of materials. You were in an oil painting or Western painting course, so we never created artwork together in class, right?"

Mr. Ito: "Yukari was always there when I went there (laughs), and we naturally became friends. Even after we graduated, we all loved to drink, so we got together every year to drink and laugh.

It's not like everyone continues to create art even after graduation; many of them go on to become office workers, manicurists, or school teachers.

Among them, Yukati has been creating works for a long time, and I respect her because I understand how difficult it is to continue to do so because I am also active as an artist. It's also amazing that I can recognize Yukari's work every time I see her artwork even though Yukari herself has been changing. 

Let's make a work that makes you feel like you can die anytime

Yukari uses ready-made items such as scissors and combs to create sculptures and installations.

Rika: "When did you develop your current style?"

Yukari: "When I was in college, I only made installations, which were large works that used the entire space, but I couldn't get over the sense of assignment I had created while I was a student, and I thought it was no good. ...... When I graduated, I had decided to live my life as an artist, so I decided not to show any of the works I had made."

Rika: "Creating something from an assignment is different from thinking and creating it by yourself, isn't it? You are learning, but it's not what you want to create.

Mr. Araki: “I think the death of my grandmother was a big factor. It was also the time of the terrorist attacks in London, and it made me think that we never know when we will die, we never know when those closest to us or those we care about will be gone. That's why I thought, 'It's not the work I want to make!' and wanted to make a work of art that would make me feel like I could die at any time.

I still make installations, but I want to use materials that are more familiar to me. I've always had a habit of collecting miscellaneous goods, and I was the kind of kid who would just collect things whenever I felt like it. I liked to collect the same things in myself and compare the materials. ”

"Perfect Pair" (2007)

Rebuilding the value of familiar things

"Yellow" (2012) Photo: DARUMA Yoshihiro Ozaki

Rika: "Why did you decide to use familiar materials?"

Yukari: "There are times when you have to wonder why you want to be an artist. I think I wanted to live well. I thought I wanted to create in order to be kind to the people around me and to take care of them, and as I gradually narrowed that idea down, I decided that the first thing I wanted to do was to take care of the things around me, and I decided to use familiar things that felt right to me as materials.

I also love old things, but I'm worried about the preconceptions that exist as common sense, such as that antiques are valuable because they're old, and that new ones are inferior, things are good because they're made by craftsmen, or even if they're sold for 100 yen, cups are still cups.

It's not 'because it’s old' or 'because someone special made it', but I want to have more fair feeling to see things. The first recognition is to be that it is a cup, and then I want to make my own judgment.

That is why in my works, I try to bring out the charms of things that are different from their original value, or I gather things together and reconstruct their value by putting them in the same category. I gather materials according to the theme at the time, and I want to know new values and perspectives by utilizing the materiality and form of the objects."

Rika: "You get ideas with three-dimensional image, don't you?"

Yukari: "Yes. I can visualize my image in three dimensions. You can imagine that you want to have curry for lunch today, or that you want to make hamburgers. It's just like that!

Rika: "Huh! Is that how you feel? I'm the type of person who has been drawing pictures rather than making three-dimensional objects, so I'm really curious about how people with three-dimensional brains see things."

[Solo Exhibition Daytime Stars] "Stardust Tablecloth" (2019) Saku-shima Photo: DARUMA Yoshihiro Ozaki

"Stardust tablecloth" part

Yukari: "I don't draw pictures much. I do draw a little bit, but I do it as a process to record the images that come to mind and reassemble them, but that is to convey them in a way that is easy for others to understand. I don't draw pictures just to think about what I'm going to make.

Rika: "When you used to have exhibitions at galleries, didn't you make flowerpots-like things out of things you picked up on the way there? One object a day?

I like to keep a diary, and I'm the type of person who likes to do my daily quota, so the idea of using things you found in a flowerpot was really appealing to me! I like the daily type."

Yukari "That makes me happy. I can't believe that even I remembered something I had forgotten. The gallery was a place where you could stay for a month, so I thought I'd turn the things I picked up on the street into flowerpots as a diary. It was made out of clay, wasn't it?
Rika: "I thought it's cute that it's dotted, and I wondered if it's like a drawing for you. Since you have a  three-dimensional brain, I thought you'd combine the things you picked up just like I write what I thought on a notebook."