Pecha Kucha

Our first week at RCA consisted of introducing ourselves with a Pecha Kucha, a concise way of presenting creative ideas visually.

My Pecha Kucha (above) briefly introduced that I was born in Japan but grew up in the UK and that I completed my undergraduate in Archaeology and Anthropology before going on to work in Fashion Buying for companies such as Harrods. I have just returned from Italy where I spent two years studying academic drawing and painting at the Florence Academy of Art and am excited to explore what it means to be a painter in today’s contemporary context.

I am inspired by a plethora of fields including anthropology, neuroscience and philosophy. I am primarily interested in human behaviour and enjoy exploring binary relationships and how we relate to these dichotomies; learnt vs. primal, technology vs. nature, old vs. new.

ADAM, EVE AND APPLE MAC – The original painting of Adam and Eve is by the renaissance painter Palma Il Vecchio. On this print I have made a loose incision where the forbidden fruit originally was and replaced it with the shape of the Apple Mac logo. Adam and Eve were prohibited from eating fruit from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Here the Apple Mac logo represents the forbidden fruit to evoke questions about the ramifications of our age of technology. The loose quality of the incision juxtaposes the high skill of the original painting, exploring the balance between the educated and the primal as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden.

LOVE IS BLIND – Originally by the Renaissance painter Palma Il Vecchio, these two portraits were not intended to be a pair. The male on the right comprises half of a set of newly wed portraits and the female on the left is believed to be a courtesan. Traditionally couple portraits were for married couples but here, the subtle mismatch plays on the notion that everything is not always as it seems, the narrative has changed. Now the pair make an intriguing couple with him well dressed, gazing directly at the viewer and her breasts on display but her eyes averted, veiled by a stripe of paint. The loose and spontaneous use of paint over the prints juxtaposes the traditional highly skilled Renaissance style, breaking the rules perhaps as this couple are breaking the rules.

HEIGHTS – Here I have explored memory and mark making as well as the relationship between the educated and primal. Looking at an image I took on location, remembering the feel of the moment and place and responding with marks. Although contrasting, the composed digital image and the instinctive acrylic marks work together to create a sense of atmosphere and movement.

THE ARCHITECT – Here I have explored the notion of a woman’s role in society by drawing female forms on the pages of an architecture book. Inspired by neuroscientist Ramachandran’s peak shift effect, the forms are basic, exaggerated and spontaneous, appealing to the viewers’ primal responses. The context on which the female images are drawn juxtaposes the primitive and provokes notions of what a woman may be; educated, strong, decorated, decoration, home maker etc. The title also investigates automatic bias, who is the architect, the woman on the page or a male associated with her.

FIELDS OF WHEAT – In this piece I have used bread to draw into charcoal dust to achieve a loose and unclear image of Theresa May dancing, in reference to her ‘dancing queen’ and ‘running through fields of wheat’ coverage. By nature, bread is a difficult material to control and therefore lends itself to an unclear image, just as May’s public persona may seem unclear. The bread also directly references the ‘wheat field’ quote. 

LOSING TOUCH – The human hand has been an enduring theme in human art since prehistoric times. In Losing Touch a handprint is dragged along a page and fades away, reminiscent of ancient cave paintings I studied in Archaeology and Anthropology but also a modern child’s early art. It is an exploration of losing touch with hand-based skills and humanity in an online era. The cold blue colour references technology and is a stark contrast to the red ochre that was traditionally used in prehistoric hand stencils. 

IMMINENT – These two etchings of waves are intended to evoke a sense of power and movement, perhaps providing an element of catharsis.

A MEMORY – This work is an exploration of memory. I chose to use white on black as a reversed reference to the old-fashioned black and white photographs so often associated with memories. The white chalk is soft and loose with an ethereal feel that is almost ghostly, alluding to the intangible quality of memory. It features a newly wed couple at their first dance.