Naomi Yuki
- Anna Lilli Garai
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
Naomi Yuki approaches painting like a form of thinking. Her figures feel quiet and deliberate, shaped by experience rather than narrative. Each mark on the canvas follows its own logic, shaped by memory, observation, and intuitive structure. Duality runs through the work, held in tension rather than resolved. Ideas of quantum mechanics and consciousness inform her process, but stay beneath the surface. Her paintings offer space to pause, notice, and stay with what’s there.
Q: Your figures feel symbolic, almost like they’re thinking out loud. Where do they come from?
A: I wondered what would be a way to express the roots of what people think in a way other than through pictures, and came up with this idea.
I thought it was important that it be something which doesn't belong to anything. I felt it had to be something familiar, yet different. It is like a number but it is not a number, it is like a unit but it is not a unit. It forms the starting point of the idea of what it is.
Q: You describe painting as “drawing as if writing.” What kind of thoughts take shape in that line?
A: It's about how it's conveyed. When I'm asked to write a description, I write an explanation of the work, but basically, I want people to just take in what they feel from the painting.
To draw means to communicate at the same time. I hope that looking at a picture can convey something in the same way that reading words can. (I am not asking for consensus.) And for me, it is an honest reflection of who I am inside, so it is as faithful as writing.
Q: Duality shows up everywhere in your work. What keeps you returning to that split?
A: There is no escaping the equation of the Earth. Just like there is the North Pole and the South Pole, everything is a phenomenon that consists of two different things. I can't really explain it, but it's one of those things — like some days are good and some days are not. The key is to get a good balance between these two. Therefore, to reflect only one side would be unbalanced, so I want to incorporate both and, in a sense, reflect the universe.
Q: In "You are here", you ask how we know where we are. How do you find direction in your process?
A: The dialogue that arises from improvisational work — the direction is guided by reading the feelings of the material while drawing. The same goes for the title. If the title comes to me while I'm working, the work goes faster. On the other hand, sometimes my intuition gets the better of me, and I stare at the screen for a while, worrying for days or even months about what the content should be.
Q: "Fake world demolition" questions what’s real. What makes you trust a painting’s truth?
A: That's a good question. Artists make their own statements through their works. That means that things that cannot be hidden are revealed on the screen even if they are not intended to be. Even if you lie to yourself, you cannot lie to the screen. Also, there are some things that can only be expressed through painting. So I need to be prepared when I present my work to the public.
Q: Quantum mechanics and abstraction seem to guide your thinking. What do you see linking those two worlds?
A: The future — the possibility of something invisible — exists closely as a means of communication. For me, quantum mechanics confirms the abstract; it is reality.
In essence, I paint abstract works, but to me they are concrete, worthy of the name "figurative." My artworks are not ultra-abstract, but represent a state between the figurative and the abstract, and quantum mechanics occupies that area.
