I often paint motifs that evoke feelings of nostalgia.
They show us their unchanged appearance through the centuries.
I feel as though by giving them the role of an actor and having them appear in a scene, the viewer feels as if he or she is witnessing a memorable scene in the painting.
– Ulala Imai
Ulala Imai paints scenes drawn from both her familial life and popular culture. She works in her home, transforming her children’s toys, quotidian foods, and other household items into mysterious and lifelike subjects. A masterful oil painter, she relies on just a few brushstrokes to realize her luminous images. Arranging disparate objects in whimsical combinations, Imai’s subtle associations infuse her paintings with the latent tension of interpersonal dynamics. A still life painter, Imai turns the materials of her specific family life into repositories for the more universal human exchanges that surround them. Imai is a graduate of Tama Art University, Tokyo. Her recent solo exhibitions include Lulu, Mexico City; Parco Museum, Tokyo; Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles; Uncle Brother, New York; Union Pacific, London; Oil Gallery, Tokyo; Tokyo Opera City Gallery, Tokyo; and XYZ Collective, Tokyo.
[excerpted from KARMA website: www.karmakarma.org]