Audrey Kawasaki: Biography
The themes in Audrey Kawasaki's work are contradictions within themselves. Her work is both innocent and erotic. Each subject is attractive yet disturbing. Audrey's precise technical style is at once influenced by both manga comics and Art Nouveau. Her sharp graphic imagery is combined with the natural grain of the wood panels she paints on, bringing an unexpected warmth to enigmatic subject matter.
The figures she paints are seductive and contain an air of melancholy. They exist in their own sensually esoteric realm, yet at the same time present a sense of accessibility that draws the observer to them. These mysterious young women captivate with the direct stare of their bedroom eyes.
Kawasaki studied fine art painting for two years at the Pratt Institute in New York City, but left after two years without completing her degree. She cites the emphasis in the New York art scene on conceptual art, an approach at odds with her figurative, illustrative style, as among the reasons she left. As of 2006, Kawasaki is considered a rising star in the Los Angeles art scene. In 2005 Kawasaki designed the cover art for Alice Smith's For Lovers, Dreamers & Me. In 2011, singer Christina Perri was tattooed with Kawasaki's painting, "My Dishonest Heart."
Alone
oil and graphite on wood 6.5″x29″
Space Yui in Tokyo
2009
Daydream
oil and graphite on wood 9.5″x28
Space Yui in Tokyo
2009
"Blue" ブルー
oil and graphite on wood 8.5"x11"
"Hajimari"@Jonathan Levine Gallery in NY
2009
Oyasumi
Oil on wood 10x19
Chubby Bunny - Gallery Nucleus
2006
I'll Stay Here
mixed media on wood 9.25"x11.25"
Art Basel Fair with Thinkspace Gallery
2008
Lili and her Ghosts
oil and graphite on wood panel 24"x24"
Merry Karnowski Gallery "Restlessly Still"
2011
Mayakashi
oil and graphite on wood panel 12"x12"
"The Next Generation" group show @ London Miles Gallery curated by Thinkspace Gallery
2010
Overlap
oil and graphite on wood 28"x14"
Outre Gallery
2009
Saying Goodbye
oil and graphite on wood 26"x21"
Space Yui in Tokyo
2009
My Little Secrets
oil and graphite on wood panel 24"x24"
Thinkspace Gallery 5 year Anniversary Group Show
2010
She Entwined
oil and graphite on wood panel 16”x20”
Outre Gallery. Australia.
2010
Superstition
oil and graphite on wood 16″x16″
Space Yui in Tokyo
2009
The Way She Likes
oil and graphite on wood 10.5″x28″
Space Yui in Tokyo
2009
"Warabeuta" わらべ歌 a child's song
oil and graphite on wood 21"x32"
"Hajimari"@Jonathan Levine Gallery in NY
2009
"Yuuwaku" 誘惑 allure
oil and graphite on wood 20"x26"
"Hajimari"@Jonathan Levine Gallery in NY
2009
My Similarities to Audrey Kawasaki:
Similar to Kawasaki's artistic preferences, I myself find that I am very discouraged and uninterested in the pressure from both professors and peers attending DAAP, attempting to persuade me that art must be conceptual. I am disgusted by the pressure they force upon me. Allow me to create because I enjoy my innovative inventions which do not have a conceptual background.
Silence thy knave mouths and allow me to proceed upon my own merry way.
Furthermore, I do have a passion for combining both innocent appearing fingers while also adding a twist of disturbing imagery.
How My Art Differs from Audrey Kawasaki:
My art differs from Kawasaki's work in the way I approach my medium. Like herself, I use planks of wood but rather than using oil paints, I explore digital media along with some multimedia two dimensional surfaces, acrylic and watercolor paints. After scanning the physical piece of wood with all of its two dimensional mediums, I bring the image into Photoshop and digitally paint directly upon the scanned surface.
Kawasaki places her figure on the wood surfaces and often times they are unrelated to the wood grain. I myself prefer to to enhance the wood grain by submerging the figure within the grain of the wood. Which causes the figure to be both engraved and protruding from the surface.
In my first image, I created the collage and scanned the image into Photoshop. The square surface seemed to be non-reflective of the organic and natural form and twisting wood grain. My teacher Daniel Leonard encouraged me to push my passion for the organic further and use an actual plank from a tree limb. I find this method of working to be more aesthetically pleasing to my passions and interests.
In Progress Project I and II:
Project I
Step 1
Step 2
Untitled
Beads, lace, fringe, paint, wood and digital painting
2012
Project II
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Untitled
Wood and digital painting
2012
