10 Questions with Yuko Kyutoku

Yuko Kyutoku was born in Gifu, Japan. Growing up both next to the mountain and rivers, her love of nature and the outdoors grew tremendously. Throughout her life, Yuko has always been fascinated by images and how the world is represented through the eyes of others. Naturally, she was drawn to drawings and paintings. The interest was cultivated during her childhood period and further developed when she opted to take her bachelor's Degree in Fine art, painting, drawing, and printmaking at SUNY Purchase college in New York.

After completing her degree, Yuko delved even more into her art practice and discovered a new field, art therapy. She then graduated from New York University with her master's degree in art therapy. She currently works as a therapist at the children's hospital in the city, where she offers art therapy to support children with mental issues and severe disabilities.

Her artmaking process is transformative. She loves traveling, visiting museums, reading books, watching films, listening to music, and meeting people, and she makes art based on these rich life experiences. She feels that life experiences open up many opportunities and make her artworks richer and unique.

Yuko had solo shows internationally. She had her solo show at the general consulate of Japan in New York. She also had her first solo exhibition in Japan at Yada City Gallery, Aichi. She also received Junior Choice Award from a SUNY Purchase College representative. She plans to do her solo in NY and japan next year.

www.yukokyutoku.com | @yuko.kyutoku

ARTIST STATEMENT

“I use gouache paints, gel pens, and printmaking mediums to express my personal experiences on paper. I grew up in a rural area of Japan and have been living in New York for almost a decade. I've found that personal exchanges and experiences in life are the most meaningful inspirations. I enjoy traveling, reading, listening to music, and meeting new people, and I transform these experiences into art, which brings me true joy.”

— Yuko Kyutoku

INTERVIEW

Let's start with your background. How did you begin making art? And how did you develop into the artist you are today?

I started making art when I was a child. I was born into a doctor's family that greatly values art. My father encouraged me to take art classes, and he signed me up for many art classes, such as ceramics, collage, painting, and beading. I took classes at the city center in my hometown in Japan. My works were exhibited at the community center with the other children, which is one of the most significant memories from my childhood. I continued to take many art classes, and not only visual arts; I love any kind of art. I enjoy watching opera, reading poetry, ceramics, traditional Japanese ukiyo-e painting, calligraphy, soap carving, paper cutting, watching films (and recently, I joined a film study group), music, and even cooking (which I consider art). Visiting many museums through Art Japan became one of my hobbies, and I took many trips to see the shows I was interested in.
When I was twenty years old, I studied abroad in London, England, and I visited many museums and galleries and saw exhibitions that inspired me to pursue art as my career. I then came to New York to study fine art at a community college. I hold a bachelor's degree in fine art from Staten Island University and a master's degree from New York University. During my time at these schools, I received several awards and scholarships, including the Juror Choice Award from a SUNY Purchase College representative. My work also appeared in several magazines and newspapers internationally, such as Seikyo Shimbun, Create Magazine, Knack Magazine, and Shukan NY Seikatsu. I also had solo exhibitions both in Japan and New York, which attracted many visitors and got me featured in newspapers. These experiences helped me keep moving forward as a visual artist.
My personal style and desire are always focused on people who interact with my art. It is my wish to create "beautiful" or meaningful products for viewers with the hope of making a good impact in their lives, and I constantly strive to achieve this wish. I was looking for opportunities to expand my career and fulfill my desire as an artist after graduating from SUNY Purchase College, and especially for ways to potentially contribute to society and support people more directly, when I discovered art therapy. Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that utilizes art to address people's needs, such as treating trauma and PTSD, and improving the quality of life in people with disabilities. Art therapists work in various settings, such as hospitals, homeless shelters, community centers, universities, and private practices. My definition of great art is something that makes people's feelings, days, or lives better by seeing it or having experiences with it. I hope to create artwork that makes people feel better or brightens their days or even their lives. Art therapy combines the art I love with the ability to put it to use to help others. Being both an artist and an art therapist thus assists me in achieving my goals to enrich others' lives and, in so doing, enriches my own life. Therefore, I decided to pursue my career as an art therapist and started my master's degree in art therapy at New York University. During my master's program, I had many internships in different settings, such as community centers and middle schools in New York, and kept creating artwork to exhibit. My work was featured in several magazines, including Globo Art magazine. Studying art therapy helps me expand my skills as a visual artist. I started combining ideas of "healing" and mental health in my artwork, which I really enjoy and wish to share with more viewers to raise awareness of mental health, which is also my passion. I had several solo shows last year and this year. I also plan to have a solo show in Japan to exhibit my work and share the world of art therapy this year and next year.

What do you wish you knew about contemporary art before you got started?

Contemporary art is very interesting. I started studying visual art because I was fascinated by Van Gogh and Da Vinci's works, which show extraordinarily skilled and talented work that is loved and admired by everyone. In terms of contemporary art, the ideas that artists express in their artworks are more important than pure skills. When I first started college, all I wanted to do was learn skills. However, I realized later that impactful art requires more than just skills. I also found that developing new ideas for contemporary artworks is extremely difficult, as is viewing and analyzing contemporary art; these are two new skills I have to learn.
Contemporary artists have the freedom to express whatever subjects they are interested in. These new ideas are not always expressing something positive, hopeful, or optimistic. Some contemporary artists express controversial themes and scandals that did not speak to me, and I did not find myself going in that direction. Learning about the different kinds of contemporary art made me think about the kind of artist I wanted to become and what I wanted to produce as an artist, which is to support others who interact with my art and gain positive experiences from it. I then found art therapy and shifted my career in the direction I really wanted. I also started incorporating "mundane" themes and styles inspired by some contemporary artists such as Tomokazu Matsuyama, whom I admire for their graphic styles and skills of including patterns and different brush applications and colors in my artworks. Learning contemporary art shaped my style and helped me advance in my career and skills.

You were born in Japan but currently live and work in the United States. How important is maintaining a strong bond with your heritage and cultural background?

When I started studying art in college, I always thought that including and expressing something "Japanese" was extremely important for me as an artist who carries Japanese traditions and background. However, as I further developed my artistic styles and received advice from my mentor, Susanna Heller, expressing Japanese culture in my work became secondary. Professor. Heller advised me to create artworks that express more about myself and to think about what has shaped who I am today. Though I was born in Japan, I have lots of influences from foreign cultures, such as the music of Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin, American films, foreign poems and books, and French paintings. After rethinking my identity and influences, my work began to represent things that I was interested in at the time, and it always reflects where I am in my life. It always represents stages of my life, and I am sure it will change over time.
However, I also still value sharing my cultural background and expressing it in my artwork. I had a solo exhibition at the General Consulate of Japan in New York a few years ago. The purpose of the exhibition was to make a cultural bridge between Japan and America and exchange cultures through an exhibition of Japanese artists' artworks at the Consulate. It was such a success that many newspapers featured and wrote about my show. It was a rewarding experience for me to work as a cultural bridge between two countries, which I think would be my mission as an artist with a different background.
Therefore, though my cultural background is not necessarily the primary focus of my work, it does inform it in significant ways, such as the fact that I like creating artwork with traditional Japanese paints and traditional Japanese bamboo brushes. My work is very graphic, and I think I got inspiration from Japanese ukiyo-e painting; however, the themes I used for these artworks are New York scenes such as the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Botanical Garden. I would say my styles are mixtures of both Japanese and American, which I really like.

300 Blue Cafe, mixed media on paper, 10x12 in, 2017 © Yuko Kyutoku

Apart from your work as an artist, you also studied art therapy and currently work as a therapist at the children's hospital. How much does this influence your work?

Being an art therapist is a life-changing experience. It definitely affects my artwork. Art therapy aims to support a population that struggles with various mental issues, and the focus of art making is not creating finishes or high-quality art products, so the artworks from art therapy sessions often look "incomplete" in terms of visual art. However, the artwork that patients made shows their progress in treatment and their therapeutic journeys, which have personal meanings that I find very powerful. Since I started working as an art therapist, my focus has shifted a little bit when I create artwork. I focus more on what feelings or messages I want to convey and represent in my artwork than I do on showing skills. I also started incorporating more mental health-related themes and hope to share them with the public to raise awareness of mental health and address stigma. In the future, I want to be an artist who advocates for mental health through the creation of artwork that conveys messages concerning mental health issues.

Speaking of your work, what messages do you want to convey? What do you aim to say to the viewers?

I want to create artworks that create positive experiences or have positive impacts on the viewer's day or life. It could be anything from feeling better after seeing my work to gaining a new perspective on life. I hope to create artworks that contribute to people's lives and society for the better. I am also interested in expressing "mental health awareness" in my work. I would like to be an advocate for mental health by working as an art therapist and visual artist. These days, I am creating a mandala painting series, which is one of the art therapy directives that art therapists normally use. It will be my newest series, and I plan to show it when I have my next solo show in Japan and New York this year.

300 The Blue NY Botanical Garden, Mixed media on silkscreen, 23x23 in, 2017 © Yuko Kyutoku

How did you develop this style? And how has it changed over the years?

I developed my artistic style by gathering things that spoke to me. I love blue colors so much; it is a happy color for me, and I started expanding different blues in my work. I also gathered all the artists I like and got influenced by them, such as Tomokazu Matsuyama, Vincent van Gogh, Charlotte Salomon, Damien Hirst, Japanese ukiyo-e paintings, Da Vinci, Mattise, etc. I learned the skills they used in their paintings and applied them to mine. I also explored what works best for me in terms of the art-making process. I love painting, but I also enjoy drawing so much. Then I started using papers and gel pens for my paintings, which I had fun with. I enjoy making art sitting on the floor rather than having chairs and desks. I also love using Japanese bamboo brushes and other various pigments such as marble powders, glitters, Japanese paper, and Italian paper. It took years to research materials and experiment, and I feel comfortable with where I am with the art-making process and my style.

What do you think is the role of artists in society? And how can art help people express themselves or heal from traumas?

I think artists always bring creative, intellectual, and emotional insights and perspectives to society as a whole, influencing the masses and challenging the status quo. Art brings cultures together and stimulates economic growth, making the world a more beautiful, better, and happier place to live.
Artists understand human conditions, such as mental illness, misery, love, happiness, anxiety, and tragedy, even if people ignore them, and express them through their art. In our society, this is one of the most influential roles for an artist. Many artists' lives are never smooth, easy, or frictionless. Meaningful art comes from artists who are brave enough to express their feelings, beliefs, and values with complete, unflinching honesty in their art. The resulting artwork allows viewers to connect to the artist's experience through the artwork. This connection with the artist's inner self and experiences then empowers the viewer to choose their own voice and direction in their own lives. Only artists have this ability and can reach millions of people and rally them around a common message or emotion. Thus art has the ability to convey messages about trauma, loneliness, and other issues.
For instance, mental health is becoming a more widely discussed issue, and some museums have begun to exhibit artworks with related mental health and/or healing aspects. Paintings and sculptures move our hearts, and they will hold a special place in your heart and in your life. I've had many wonderful encounters with paintings, including Van Gogh's "Starry Night," a painting by Frida Kahlo, and a painting book by Charlotte Salomon.
In another example, many artists today choose themes based on social and political issues that affect a segment of society or the entire population. As a result, these works of art express the idea of hope, which is perhaps the most beautiful and necessary for our society. As a result, artists lend a helping hand to societies and/or populations that need to speak up against authoritarian methods and hypocritical beliefs.

What is the most challenging part of your work? And what is the most enjoyable?

I would say effective time management is the most challenging part of my work. I work as a therapist full-time, so finding time to create artwork is difficult. I have been managing and setting certain time frames to create and finish my artwork.
I enjoy using art therapy-related topics when creating my artwork, and it has been an interesting experience. For instance, I started making mask paintings as my personal artwork, which originally came from my art therapy practice, where we sometimes use masks during art therapy sessions. The things I studied as an art therapist influence my current work, which is rewarding to see. I also explore mental health topics in my work, such as creating a safe place, making meditation and mindfulness practice drawings, and exploring self-care ideas, which are also enjoyable to create. Due to my increased interest in expressing mental health themes in my artwork alongside my work as a therapist, I feel like all of my interests have merged perfectly and come to the surface as themes in my artwork.

300 The Blue NY Metropolitan Museum, Paints, pens on silkscreen, 15x19 in, 2017 © Yuko Kyutoku

What do you think of the art community and market? And what is your experience dealing with collectors?

I've always had positive experiences with collectors. I had them in Japan, and they took great care of my artwork and respected my artistic style. It is so fortunate that I have people who enjoy my art and keep it at their places.

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

I am working on several art projects. I am making masks for my new art therapy mask series, in which I express my experience meeting artists and portray them on the masks. I will have a gallery talk at Westchester Community College in the coming month, and I plan to show the pieces for the talk.
I am also working on several blue New York City landscape paintings and mandala paintings using gouache paints. I plan to have solo shows and exhibit these works this year and next year, both in Japan and in New York.

And lastly, where do you see yourself and your work five years from now?

I see myself working as an art therapist who serves a diverse community in private practice and the hospital. I hope to open a private art therapy practice where I provide therapy sessions, wellness workshops, educational classes, and special art classes for children, as well as become a more active mental health advocate to raise awareness about mental health. I also see myself as a visual artist who will continue to have solo shows internationally, showing my works in galleries and magazines.

Related Interviews