Yoko Iwanaga

I stopped by Second Street Gallery to see Mementos, Yoko Iwanaga up until May 30.
I thought it was charming, it had a gentle, cheerful quality. Her artist statement below.

"My works are based on my memories of childhood. Sometimes I recalled images of childhood memories. These images change every time, and become my own personal images that give me a mysterious feeling. I express these remembered images in my work using abstraction form. Most of these are in the ordinary scenery of nature.

As a child, I was taught the ancient Japanese belief in the will of nature. My childhood world was a gathering of little pieces. Some of them were sunlight from the gap between leaves, another was little plants on the side of road. This world consisted of the space around me to include seasons, weather and plants, but after I grew up that became a different world with a busy society. I feel there is a reason that I have recalled memories from my childhood because it must be a message from my inner life.

I create this world by using pieces of these memories as well as present experiences. I have manipulated images in my mind into the paintings. I layer the manipulated blurred images and clear images several times. I do not intend to describe everything. Some of those are clear, but some are blurred the way memories sometimes become."