The works of self-taught Japanese artist Yuichiro Ukai are filled with depictions of dinosaurs, skeletons, ancient Japanese warriors, and monsters. The exceptional eye for detail, the precision with which his polyptych drawings were created, and the mix of ancient and modern, and East and West, have quickly caught the attention of global audiences.
This November, Venus Over Manhattan will present Ukai's first solo exhibition in the United States, organized in collaboration with Kyoto gallerist Yukiko Koide of Yukiko Koide Presents. The show will feature the artist's 14 new works.
When Yuichiro Ukai joined the Atelier Yamanami in 2014, he already had experience with drawing. Armed with 12 colored pencils they had provided him, he immediately began producing art. However, the staff observing his work were quite confused as to why he never completely colored in his illustration but left most of the characters blank. The major breakthrough happened when they gifted him a large set of 200 colors, and Ukai immediately filled in all the empty spaces. This signified that the artist, from the start, had a clear vision of what the finished piece would look like. The talented illustrator creates these incredibly dense images from his memory.
Atelier's small illustrated books and magazine library are Ukai's main sources of inspiration. Thus, his works are filled with a broad array of forms and figures from popular Japanese culture (samurai, yokai-monsters, Pokémon, and skeletons), as well as insects, animals, and dinosaurs.
The artist has his own unique way of drawing. He begins by drawing one creature on a brown paper, and another one over the first, and so on, creating incredibly dense images full of seemingly eclectic characters. Even though they are two-dimensional, once all the characters are piled one on top of the other, they give a sense of rising upward. Every creature, hero, or monster has a different expression and movement. These phantasmagoric drawings are done sequentially, one after the other. The most remarkable fact is that Ukai draws them directly from his imagination without first creating sketches or an outline.
The works are a blend of modern imagery and elements of Ukiyo-e prints, Japanese mythology, and folklore. Thus, they are able to poetically engage Japanese Art historical and cultural references while simultaneously situating themselves in the present. His art, bursting with a heightened sense of drama, reminds one of Japanese epics. Like his sequential drawings, these epics of old possess a unique form of long narrative poems or prose works.
A catalogue featuring a new text by Kenjiro Hosaka, Director of the Shiga Museum, will accompany the exhibition.
The exhibition Yuichiro Ukai will be on view at Venus Over Manhattan's 39 Great Jones Street location in New York from November 17th until January 13th, 2024.
Featured image: Yuichiro Ukai, Untitled (No. 51), 2022. Colored pencil, marker and ink on card-board; 29 x 32 1/2 in (73.7 x 82.5 cm). Courtesy the artist, Yukiko Koide Presents, and Venus Over Manhattan, New York