Japanese artist Yukino Fukumoto’s emotional and transparent watercolor paintings seem to dissapear into a spectrum of cool hues. A young graduate of Japan’s prestigious Tama Art University, she is virtually new to the international gallery scene having only been exhibiting for a couple years. Her work can recently be seen alongside Hikari Shimoda (featured in Hi-Fructose Volume 29) in Tokyo based ACT gallery’s show “The Sailor”. Her style is a balance between ornate details that spill into dramatic washes and splatters. She begins with a planned sketch, carefully building layers until the paint is allowed to bleed by happy accident. Yukino regularly visits her local aquarium to find color inspiration in animals like the translucent moon jellyfish. Strong tones are contrasted with the stark white of the paper which she leaves blank, evoking some distant memory or dream. Yukino’s female subjects are often paired with culturally specific motifs like the cherry blossom. Other times, they are framed with butterfly wings and hummingbirds sipping nectar, teaching us to savor what we love and embrace raw emotion.
Japanese artist 
Earlier this year, 
New York-based artist