Aya Uekawa (b.1979)

Uekawa was born in Japan and lives and works in Beacon, NY. She received BFA in 2004, and MFA both from Hunter College, CUNY in 2008. Uekawa’s works are in prestigious private and public collections such as Burger COLLECTION Hong Kong, and Neumann Family Collection, Ovitz Family Collection, Cleveland Clinics Art Foundation, MoCA, and exhibited in Japan Society (NYC), Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati), FLAG Art Foundation (NYC), Baltimore Museum of Art and among others.

Uekawa has lived in Japan for half of her life, and the rest half in the United States. Her experience of Japan’s socialistic, patriarchal structure founded her value of conformity to social customs. However, it conflicts against American value of freedom and independence. Her cultural and social struggle appears in her work. In her paintings, the figures are placed in the center for the focus, and have very subtle expressions that can be translated by the viewer’s imagination; the figure may be enduring her suffering in the environment she is in, or feeling somewhat comfortable. The environment surrounding the figures are composed of symbols and metaphors of the ambivalent psychological situation they are in. These elements are taken from familiar images such as emoji, flowers, and birds are given metaphorical meanings in the works.

Uekawa’s works are often entirely created from her imagination. The figures are created without any reference to specific individuals—that suggests they can be anybody from any culture, and thus, the artist suggests the viewers to psychologically morph into the figures. This style of free form of creation encourages the artist to express her deep psychological state through her personal experiences. Her practice on highly detailed, repetitive slow brushstrokes reflects the obsessive childhood lessons of ‘fitting in’ to the group. It also reflects the traditional feminine practice of crafting and sewing, which her mother taught her in her early childhood. This early education of small motor skills became the foundation of her visual language. Simultaneously, small mark-making becomes a meditative practice. This detail oriented language reflects her journey of finding her inner self.

Throughout Uekawa’s work, it reveals the ambivalent state between psychological repression and freedom of oneself within the dynamic environment that surrounds us, and it explores an universal human psychological aspect of strength and fragility of balancing inner and outer self. Her timeless work invites the viewer to explore their inner self and share their experiences.

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