Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Naomi Okubo’s Paintings Focus on Textile Patterns

Naomi Okubo’s paintings are pure fashion inspiration. Striking patterned fabric and effortlessly-styled girls are the subjects of Okubo’s young and electric compositions. The Japanese painter infuses complex art historical references and contemporary fashion through creating, on canvas, these colorful, expressive decorative patterns that might remind us of the vivid and ornate works of early expressionist Henri Matisse, or the gestural paint drippings of Jackson Pollock. Read more after the jump.

Naomi Okubo’s paintings are pure fashion inspiration. Striking patterned fabric and effortlessly-styled girls are the subjects of Okubo’s young and electric compositions. The Japanese painter infuses complex art historical references and contemporary fashion through creating, on canvas, these colorful, expressive decorative patterns that might remind us of the vivid and ornate works of early expressionist Henri Matisse, or the gestural paint drippings of Jackson Pollock.

Her emphasis on fashion and outer appearance is not to be taken as vanity. Her work is a personal tool of empowerment through which the artist explores her “plural selves.” At a younger age, Okubo became preoccupied with her appearance; the incessant criticism (from herself and others), allowed her to create work that simultaneously explored her feelings and composed various self-images that fit her expectations and desires. Furthermore, it is through her pieces that she aims to understand modern obsessions with material objects as definition of self.

Meta
Topics
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
We live in strange times and artists Michael Kerbow and Mike Davis both have something in common: they use surrealism and time travel to address modern and existential issues. Click above to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interviews with painters Mike Davis and Michael Kerbow about their respective solo showings.
Artist and animation director Joe Vaux paints what he likes. His personal work is teeming with impish demons. His cheerful hellscapes are populated with lost souls, sharp toothed monstrosities, and swarms of wrong-doers. And yet, there’s an innocence to all of this. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview with Joe Vaux.
Vibrant and bold, Oscar Joyo’s latest body of work which was exhibited at Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles, vibrates the retina; while delving into his childhood memories childhood in Malawi and themes of Afrofuturism.
Something interesting happens when when artists like Alan and Carolynda Macdonald, who have the painting fundamentals mastered, decide to subvert expectations and perplex a viewers expectations conceptually. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List