New Playgrounds

What motivates and keeps me creating, whether it's painting or making things, even if my efforts go unnoticed, is that it's FUN. The bottom line is that it's FUN to create things. It's utterly exciting to think that a mere idea can be transformed into an actual being. It has always been that way.

Nature is my subject matter. I didn't consciously choose it, but as I spend more time on the trail or in the woods, it takes me into another world. It's like building a relationship with that place and making some personal connections. When I see a work of art I can relate to, it doesn't require an explanation; there's an immediate connection. The first time I saw one of the original sunflower paintings done by Van Gogh was one of those moments. They take me to a place, to another world, an ideal world I'd like to be in and never want to leave. I get the same sensation with the films and music I love: they take me to imaginary landscapes. 

When I’m in the wilderness or on a trail, I gaze at the details of its elements. I get mesmerized by the intricacy and wonder of how leaves or rocks are formed. The idea of the theme, ISLANDS, stems from those details. They are an amplification of the details found in nature. The textures, lines, and patterns we find in nature are magnified, caricatured, and arranged in their visual uniqueness.

I wanted to continue to create highly abstract images to be open to various interpretations. These are a visual play on the nature found in the islands. They are like miniature playgrounds built in a make-believe world.


Yukio Kevin Iraha