Izumi Miyazaki

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Statement : 

There is one Japanese word that drives my art practice -- sekaikan. Sekaikan literally translates to worldview but is understood by native speakers more as a sense or feeling of a distinct world that one has created, such as through fashion, music, art, etc. The goal of my art is to create interesting and beautiful work with sekaikan -- figures all invested in their own little world.

My art is mostly two-dimensional and showcases a heavy distortion of figures. I work with acrylic paint, and oil paints that allow me to focus on creating a wide and busy range of colors in my pieces. I often use colors that clash together and are conventionally thought to be ‘ugly’ color pairings in order to make my piece interesting and help scatter the eye throughout the composition. The colors are meant to grab attention and add to the distorted cluster of figures that I typically create, making my pieces never have just a single focal point. I love coloring skin tones that are non-racial and even non-human. Although some of my pieces deal heavily with race, I believe my experiences dealing with racism can be applied to many people of color. 

The content of my art is all highly personal. They are oftentimes about my family and the many struggles that they go through, but also about my relations with past partners and friends. It is also introspective in that I explore the way in which I feel about my self worth as an Asian woman having grown up in America. Although my art is personal and primarily for me to come to terms with my life, I also want the viewer to empathize with the mood that my figures visually project regardless of whether they know the exact meaning; whether that be melancholy, rage, deep thought, boredom, sadness, etc., I want my work to be relatable and engaging. 

Being Japanese-American, my first introduction to art and the primary influence for my art creation was anime and manga with their highly unrealistic, dynamic figures. As I learned more about art history, however, I became more visually interested in Japanese woodblock prints and their use of flat color, bold lines, and carefully planned compositions. Nowadays, my favorite art influences and artists are Marc Chagall, Egon Schiele, and Enrico Robusti -- all artists who portray figures that seem to be in their own little world. 

 

Mother Beheading Japanese Patriarchy
oil and acrylic on canvas 40 inches x 60 inches 2022 This painting is referencing Artemisia Gentileschi's iconic painting, Judith Beheading Holofernes. My painting shows my mother as Judith, my grandmother as Abra, and the personification of Kabuki theater as Holofernes. This is a feminist autobiographical painting that expresses my frustration towards the Japanese patriarchy and how they have undermined incredible women like my mother and my grandmother. There are references of Yayoi Kusama, Nichiren's teachings of female-inclusive Buddhism, Kabuki theatre, and famous fictive Japanese heroes scattered within the composition.
Ryu-kun ripped the shoji again
36 inches x 42 inches oil and acrylic on canvas 2022
"you speak good English"
24 inches x 20 inches oil and acrylic on canvas 2021 The title is something that I get often as a Japanese-American woman even though I was born and raised in Virginia.
Family Effort
24 inches x 36 inches oil and acrylic on canvas 2021
Bio: 

My name is Izumi Miyazaki and I am a Pittsburgh based artist. My work is overwhelmingly figurative and often deals with my upbringing as a Japanese-American woman. I am most interested in acrylic and oil paintings as well as marker drawings. My primary influences are Enrico Robusti, Marc Chagall, anime, and Japanese woodblock prints. 

 

uk
Staffordshire
United States
New York City
Italy
Milano
United States
Washington D.C. Metro Area
uk
london

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