Daily Motifs

Yoshi 47

Artemin Gallery

【Daily Motifs】

Once I wake up in the early morning, I take a glance at my garden to check out how the weather is like first. Then, I start thinking about what I am going to do in a day: Surfing, gardening, farming, reading, or creating something interesting in my art studio. Most likely I start off surfing to make the best balance of myself for a brand new day surrounded by beautiful waves and blue skies. I see sometimes fish swimming and jumping around me like greeting with cheers, and I feel that I am a part of their lives.

After taking a shower, me and my wife start having a breakfast together talking about ceramics we create, flowers and vegetables we pick out of our garden and farm, and books we read of course.

Before we step into our art studio, we stop by our lovely garden and farm to observe the growth of plants and vegetables. Colors and shapes are different depending on seasons, but they are very unique and can’t help thinking about how interesting they are. Moreover, we see tiny bugs digging the ground, bees drinking nectar, and butterflies trying to laying eggs on my precious lemon trees.

While my wife is still working on something good to our flowers and herbs, I finally make myself into a creating mode and get myself into the studio. I pick up something that I like to draw in my mind: waves, clouds, fish, bugs, birds, and so many things that I see with my own eyes, and start painting.

When the blue sky miraculously turns into orange, vivid pink, purple and red, I suddenly see vermin coming out of woods and eating our ripe tomatoes and other juicy things. He turns around and grins at me for a moment, and run into a dark forest. I grab some beers and looking at the beautiful sunset sky that changes moment by moment and stars are already shining in the dark and what I can only hear is the sounds of waves coming from the beach.

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The title “Daily Motifs” is literally and simply an expression of what I see around me everyday. I live in a countryside where I can surf, farm, fish, and even do pottery. There are so many interesting and aesthetic things along with these hobbies I do. Colors and shapes are completely different each day because of the growth of nature and the parade of the seasons. They are so beautiful and amazing that I can’t help brining them into my painting. Not only just a living thing, but also things I use and make to enrich my life and knowledge also become motifs of my pantings: fins for surf, ceramics I put on a table, antique furnitures, tools I use for farming, books of course… It seems like this is just an simple expression of where I live and how I live through my paintings, but it’s not actually…

I used to live in big cities, like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, and my inspiration was all coming from cultures on a street: skateboarding, graffiti, and bicycle messenger. It was all about “STANDING OUT”. You have to be outstanding among all those who do the same thing if you want to survive in a street art community, otherwise you are nothing but just a man living in the city. However, once I moved to a countryside where was nothing related to “Street Culture”, I realized myself that I started painting something just around me, like I mentioned above: flowers, animals, still lives and etc… I finally felt that I didn’t have to deal with being “Outstanding” anymore and I could more focus on what I truly love to draw and paint. Switching a living environment, from big cities to a small town, drastically changed my whole art life. Although it seems I am no longer a part of a street culture, I am still able to see some legacies in my paintings which I had created throughout my street life history. My painting is mixed with some legacies as a spice from the past and what I genuinely feel in present days.

-yoshi47-

Daily Motifs
Yoshi 47

Dates: 2024.Sep.21 ⭢ Oct.26

Opening Reception: 2024.Sep.21 | 15：00

Venue: Artemin Gallery (1F, No. 32, Ln. 251, Jihe Rd., Shilin Dist., 111, Taipei City, Taiwan)