Artists

16 Artists & Illustratorsfresh paintABOVE Lost Girls,oil on hardboard,89x89cm``````YUKI OTAKEThe lush green forest scene in Portfolio Plus member YukiOtake’s oil work Lost Girls taps into the heart of anall-too-familiar childhood memory. It’s that moment whenyou venture just a little too far from home, and face thepanicking realisation that you’re out of your depth.For Yuki, that moment actually came in a dream whereshe found herself chasing her cats into the forest, andcouldn’t find her way home, “the uncertain layering ofimages in dreams often create a sense of chaos andfreedom of expression,” she explains.Hidden in the right-hand corner of the painting, so faintyou could almost miss it, is a small feline mask, a callingcard that appears in most of Yuki’s works. It’s a way ofinserting herself into the art, without painting in her face,and helps blur the lines between fantasy and reality.An MFA graduate from the Slade School of Fine Art, Yukisupports her painting by working as a library assistant,``````rising early every morning to work for four hours at herhome in East London before her shift begins.The biggest challenge when creating Lost Girls, sheexplains, was mixing a wide range of greenish colour toexpress the depth and volume of the nature scene againstthe shaded background. Yuki combined oil painting with amix of textured materials that included sand and syntheticthread to create the semi-abstract landscape she desiredfor Lost Girls. “I tried to focus on capturing a wholemovement, not to work on too much detail.”Yuki’s work is preoccupied with landscapes anddomestic scenes, but it’s the beauty of the everyday thatinterests her most, “I don’t believe in creating somethingnew but in inventing new perspectives based on mundanedaily life,” she says.Sign up for your own personalised Portfolio Plus today athttp://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk or visit Yuki’’s profile athttp://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/yuki12 Fresh Paint.indd 16 08/06/2016 18: