Audrey Kawasaki - My Design HERO!

Japan art styles are my favourite just like manga comics, the curvy lines of a human body shape, the hair strokes that waves lightly in the air as if it is real. Art nouveau which was influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, where they have a strong outline and flat or gradient colour filled in. Now Audrey Kawasaki which is one of my favourite artist has combined these two art styles together and formed her very own style.

The themes in Audrey Kawasaki’s work are contradictions within themselves. Her work is both innocent and erotic. Each subject is attractive yet disturbing. She paints on wood panels and it brings an unexpected warmth to the enigmatic subject. The figures she paints are seductive and contain an air of melancholy. They exist in their own sensually eosteric realm, yet at the same time present a sense of accessibility that draws the observer to them. These mysterious young women captivate with the direct stare of their bedroom eyes.

Audrey mostly paints on wood panel with oil and graphite, at times mixed media. The colour she uses are always muted which gives out the sensation of erotic and melancholy. She had several exhibitions and shows and the most recent show is named “Tangled”. These are part of the paintings shown in the show.

“All the girls I paint, is one girl. She is on my mind always, and nothing will make me stray away from that.” Audrey stated at her tumblr. She is persistent at what she is doing, the girls in her mind is still a mystery yet to be found. Recently, Audrey had been working with few artists -- Andrew Hem, Joao Ruas, and she deeply admire their talents.

GeGeGe no Kitaro

Illustrated Book of Japanese Monsters, 1972

by Richard Longhi

Audrey is Japanese, so she grew up watching comics and one of her favourites is “GeGeGe no Kitaro”. It is an anime where we can see she is deeply influenced by her child hood, as you can see the wild imaginative creatures and strokes of the hair lines is reflected in her paintings.
She has always had a fascination with yokai (monster in Japanese), Japanese folklore creatures, demons,spirits, monsters etc. She thinks some are mischiveous, some sre evil and some are good natured.

She is fond of an illustrated Book of Japanese Monsters, 1972 and we can see how is she influenced by that. For instance, the monster illustrated are from the "Night Parade".

Every girl has their girly side, and when Audrey Kawasaki got in contact with felts and plushy, she developed a new hobby. She started making felt plushy, the ones she just started making were very simple and cute.

Then, she started to apply her painting skills onto the doll making, she painted the head and the hand and sew other parts together. Something interesting about this doll is that thy have no actually bodies, its as if mushrooms has human faces. This is also why I love her, i can see no limits in her creativity and her imagination.

This is what her working area looks like, simple and ordered. Everything is packed together in one place, she has everything around her while she works. Follow her now on twitter! =]


Bibliography:
http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com/info.php?p=bio
http://andkawa.tumblr.com/
http://baibai-matane.live.journal.com/84401.html
http://baibai-matane.livejournal.com/81158.html
http://i-seldom-do.journal.com/160812.html
http://i-seldom-do.journal.com/158846.html£cutid1