American-born Japanese artist Yusk Imai portrays highly stylized figures drawn from his dreams and mythology. Working in his studio in Berlin, Imai creates using a variety of materials and applications including sketches, painting on canvas and wood, photography and large scale wall murals. Often drawing in monochrome, ink on paper is his favorite medium. His images have been compared to Gustav Klimt for their use of intricate patterns and symbolism. Besides Art Nouveau, one can trace his influences to Surrealim and Abstract art by Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, and Joan Miro. Imai combines these with inspiration from Japanese traditional prints and comics he grew up reading, giving his surreal works a more contemporary feel. New works like his mixed media “Girl with Unicorn”, combine several of these aesthetics. The image of a girl with a unicorn on her lap is rendered to precision with opposing abstract shapes, where Imai splits up the composition into comic book style frames. Other drawings such as “Thoughtless observation of fear” illustrates an illogical figure made of eyes, hands, hair and streaks of color in a scene from the artist’s unconscious mind. Through these bizarre arrangements, Imai seems to try and formulate his complicated range of emotions and sense of being. Take a look at more of Yusk Imai’s latest works below.
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