Curator’s Statement (excerpt)
To experience YUKI Yoko’s work is like encountering an intriguing and charming folk art at the flea market. It is both a work of art and an entrancing gift engraved with the artist’s life experiences, which is highly endearing. Not to mention, it’s easy to pick up and comfortable to hold in your hands. Because it doesn’t look like what you expect a “work of art” to look like, it isn’t imposing and makes you feel like you can pick it up casually. However, doing so will cause it to come tumbling onto your shelf at home.
KUTSUNA Kenichi（Animator, Animation Director, University Lecturer）
Programme
- BARIKAN 2010 A Happy New Year – 00:03:01 Animated short film 2010
A film that started from attempting to create new movements from cutouts of the human form instead of drawing multiple human bodies in a row. © Yoko Yuki - See ya Mr. Banno! – 00:04:23 Animated short film 2014
One day out of the blue, Mr. Banno, who teaches the class next door, came to school with his head shaved. Students made fun of his bald head so much that Mr. Banno flew away in a hot air balloon. What happened after that, nobody knows. © 2014 Yoko YUKI & Tokyo University of the Arts - Zdravstvuite! 19th Japan Media Arts Festival Animation Division Jury Selections 00:05:36 Animated short film 2015
One summer day, I met a strange man who teaches Russian on the beach. He took me to the city, and what was once familiar looked completely fresh from a different point of view. The man should be there at the beach tomorrow too. © 2015 Yoko YUKI & Tokyo University of the Arts - lost summer vacation – 00:02:30 Animated short film 2015
Summer vacations from our childhood were so long and precious. There were hot days as well as cool days. We had a lot of experiences, traveled around, got sunburnt, grew taller. We also had homework. Shouldn’t summer vacation be the best time of year for busy grown-ups, too? Let’s take it easy. You can come whenever you want. I’d like to dedicate an endless summer vacation to you. © Yoko Yuki - Ohori park – 00:09:26 Animated short film 2016
In April 2016, Thai movie director Apichatpong Weerasethakul was invited to Fukuoka, and film makers who have connections to Fukuoka gathered for a three-day film production workshop with him. This documentary film came about from that workshop, when I talked with animation creator and newlywed Mirai MIZUE about his new married life and his origins while walking around Ohori Park, which is near where he grew up. © Yoko Yuki - 100 percent Electrical – 00:14:47 Animated short film 2017
Visual artist Yoko YUKI talks to music producer Foodman about her trip to Thailand while soaking in a public bath together. As she retraces her memory in Thailand, she starts to feel dizzy in the bath and her memory slowly turns into music. © Yoko Yuki - A Snowflake into the Night – 00:06:00 Animated short film 2018
“One day, the snow sensed it was in danger of melting and became an earthworm instead. The earthworm then longed to go above the surface and changed into a tree. It continues to change itself until one day… when it remembers its past self.” ©2018 Graphinica,inc. - ShalaBonBon 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival Animation Division Jury Selections 00:02:20 Music video 2019
This work was created as a music video for the song “ShalaBonBon” by Bonno Shimizu. Birds, flowers, people, and other living creatures appear one after another, set to a light acoustic sound and the catchy phrase, “shalabonbon.” The noise-processed effect with the vivid and fluorescent coloring was achieved by filming a 2D animation played on a CRT TV. © Yoko Yuki - In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny-weeny Pocket – 00:06:37 Animated short film 2022
“When it shrinks, it expands. It floats and it sinks. It separates, but connects. When I think I’m watching them, they’re actually watching me. A charming animation poem that weaves together the countless days of observing, recording, and experimenting.” 2022 ©︎ YUKI YOKO / Au Praxinoscope
YUKI Yoko 幸洋子 loved to draw and play with the video camera from a young age. She is a graduate of the Department of Visual Media, Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences (2010), and completed a Master’s in animation at Tokyo University of the Arts in Yokohama (2015). YUKI uses various art mediums and materials to create films that draw inspiration from everyday life. Notable works include See ya Mr. Banno, which is based on a distant and strange memory from her childhood; Zdravstvuite!, which depicts a day spent with an old man she met in Yokohama; A Snowflake into the Night, which is based on the artwork A Fable Told by the Wind by contemporary artist KONOIKE Tomoko; ShalaBonBon, a music video in collaboration with Bonno Shimizu; and In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny-weeny Pocket, her latest work which was inspired by her own picture diary.
