Yasuyo Fujibe’s softspoken, decorative works immediately caught our eye at LA Art Show last week. Her pieces there represented a departure from her older monochromatic paintings of faces in favor of new bolder elements. This would be her unique portrayal of doe-eyed girls in the arabesque style of Islamic art. Her use of surface decorations are based on the linear patterns of foliage and snowflakes, tiled repeatedly in a lace-like manner. Quiet yet intense, girls stare dreamily through their veils of interwoven lines. They resemble a wedding veil, symbolically worn by Japanese brides to conceal jealousy, ego, selfishness and other undesirable attributes from their grooms. While protecting the anonymity of her subjects, Fujibe’s layered images separate soul from the exterior beauty taken at face value.
