To experience YUKI Yoko’s work is like encountering an intriguing and charming folk art at the flea market. It is both a work of art and an entrancing gift engraved with the artist’s life experiences, which is highly endearing. Not to mention, it’s easy to pick up and comfortable to hold in your hands. Because it doesn’t look like what you expect a “work of art” to look like, it isn’t imposing and makes you feel like you can pick it up casually. However, doing so will cause it to come tumbling onto your shelf at home.

It may sound like an outlandish analogy, but you would easily be able to understand what I am saying once you experience her work. However, do not misunderstand. This is not simply an act of genius or a product of nature, but a work of art that is designed and created carefully. Despite this, her work seems free from any guises of cultural background, upbringing, social position, or logic, so that there is no mental pressure when viewing Yuki’s work. All creators try to achieve this at one point, and most fail. And yet, most of her work is created to feel this way. The simplicity of her work allows for a high degree of creative difficulty. Simply put, Yuki’s work is brilliant!

I believe I have conveyed how exceptional Yuki’s work is, but I will go into more detail about a few specific elements.

Tempting Essay
There are several works that are likely based on the artist’s actual experience. To see reality through Yuki’s eyes is quite enticing. This new world—realistic yet fictional, familiar yet foreign—is right there, and it beckons you to come in. Not many people can turn down its scheming temptation. 

Allegories and Contingency
One of the characteristics of a Yuki work is the fable-esque storytelling. The highly abstract and frank story cannot be reduced to a single genre or category and is poised to be taken in from all angles. In addition, she expresses this by using more traditional material in various ways. The most prominent use of this is the allowance for contingency. It is an expression of simple curiosity, like a schoolchild freely mixing together ingredients as a form of experimentation. Combine this with the fable-esque story telling to further open up this work to the world.

Funny Poetry
If we were to define poetry as wordplay that deviates from the traditional use of that word, Yuki’s work would undoubtedly be considered visual poetry. Her work goes beyond meaning or context and heads straight towards nonsense, but you never grow bored of this. In fact, you laugh at its lack of meaning. Is this not what “funny” really means, in the truest sense of the word? When I told her that I laughed, she responded with “I still laugh at it too.” What a peculiar situation. And yet, I am simply overwhelmed by the fact that it was created as a work of art.

Screening Program：“Japan Media Arts Festival Special Program featuring YUKI Yoko”
Curator：KUTSUNA Kenichi（Animator, Animation Director, University Lecturer）
Production: Japan Media Arts Festival Overseas Promotion
Video length：55:42
Copyright：© 2022 Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan All Rights Reserved.