illustration by Fuko Ueda
Several months ago, Roy showed me a number of beautiful illustrations posted on his LiveJournal community. He thought I knew the artist, but unfortunately I did not. This drove me into an internet search tailspin where I spent an hour of surfing to find out who the artist was. I came up with some references to the same images, but alas no name. Well, mystery solved! The awesome Fecal Face posted some thumbs of the artist with her name and a linky to her site.
Fuko Ueda is a young illustrator showing much of her work in Japan, thus far. If I can liken her style to my own experiences, her work reminds me of children's book illustrations from the 70's. There is also a translucent, light quality in her style that is similar to the illustrated Japanese stationery that was quite popular in the 80's. I don't draw these comparisions to discount her work in any way, but these memories are what pulled me to her illustrations in the first place.
Ueda's pieces involve characters of human, animal and surreal form in sparse environments. Her work is fine and delicate, but innocence is not a word I would use to describe her subject matter. There's an underlying current of sinister, sex, rebellion and dominance; but somehow this comes across in a curious, young and almost naive way. Not unlike one's outlook during those peculiar tween years.
