YUGEN Gallery will hold a solo exhibition by illustrator Natsuko Echizen "Harmonious" from Saturday, March 4, 2023 to Thursday, March 9, 2023.

First solo exhibition in 10 years. Theme is "Symbiosis"

A woman staring at me with straight eyes. There are tigers and lions nestling there, and mysterious creatures like mermaids and fairies with beautiful wings on the flowers blooming nearby. Natsuko Echizen draws living things that make you feel the certainty of your intentions. A world where fantasy and reality intermingle.

“I’ve been drawing since I can remember, and at the time I was not good at interacting with people, so I didn’t know how to express myself other than through drawing. So for me, painting was a very important thing that was deeply related to my life.”

Echizen has been absorbed in drawing since childhood and has been drawing as much as time permits.

Majored in Japanese painting at art college. He says that traditional painting methods, such as learning the properties of pigments and animal glues in particle units and starting with making his own paints, are still the foundation of his creations.

From there, he began his creative activities as an illustrator in order to transcend the boundaries of art and pursue paintings that are closer to everyday life. Since then, he has been active in a wide range of fields in the world of illustration, such as advertising, character design, and commercial facility displays. This is Echizen's first solo exhibition in 10 years. About 15 mixed media works and hanging scroll works that combine digital drawings and real paints will be exhibited.

It can be said that this is actually the first solo exhibition with an autonomous theme, and it can be positioned as an opportunity to foresee new artworks in the future.

“I was able to expand my range of expression as an illustrator, but I think I wasn’t able to delve deeply into my own work.”

Feeling conflicted, Echizen sinks deep into himself and discovers the theme of "coexistence." We wish and express the relationship where humans, animals, plants and all beings respect each other's individuality.

Harmony of fantasy and reality

“If you look around this world, it is full of unequal relationships such as race, gender, and interests. Nobility"

Aiming for a more natural harmony rather than an equal relationship, the title "Harmonious" overlaps with the Echizen sensibility.

"A world where combinations that at first glance seem out of place are in harmony. I want to eliminate as much as possible the prejudice of what this race is like. I paint with the feeling of knocking out the stereotypes of the viewer. Stereotypes. Getting rid of is a discovery and a possibility.I want you to enjoy it.”

A skill that captures the universe in a symmetrical yet dynamic composition, such as an octopus playing with a woman, a hamster, and a lion and a rabbit snuggling up to sleep on the beach. Echizen grasps the essence of the rock-solid Japanese painting in his style, from the preparation of the base to the coloring, to the detailed drawing with a delicate touch.

On top of that, the expressive characters are drawn using their experience in illustration and character design. Here, Echizen establishes the vitality of living things as pop art that can be enjoyed without sharing any context. The imagination of the viewer will be crystal clear, and you will feel that common sense and stereotypes are loosened.

A story that begins with the realization of the viewer

Without the rules and common sense of the world, it cannot be part of this world. However, if we are caught up in it, our lives will lose their luster. It can be said that this is Echizen's intention to represent a mysterious world, which is the concept of this gallery, where fantasy and reality are mixed.

“For myself, thinking about character settings and background stories is a necessary process in drawing a picture, but I don’t want that to be the only correct answer for my work. This is because I want to create a story (narrative) for each viewer.”

Oral stories rooted in myths and lands from ancient times. They sprout from the human imagination and modest everyday experience, and they exist as eternal existences like a large tree that grows in harmony with the climate while people occasionally thin out its branches and leaves, splinting them instead of bare nature.

Natoko Echizen dives deep into her own imagination and spins from her everyday experiences. Her story emerges as a paradise that liberates diverse individuals and celebrates their lives.