Naru Yoshida has painted textile designs for a living, working with motifs used as decoration or structure within a design. Having achieved a successful career, he has felt a need to take yet another challenge in life: Turning away from the commercial world to pursue his love for painting.
He uses motifs now as life symbols, employing them as images or subjects within his paintings. The objects become pictorial devices which symbolically illustrate aspects of life experiences. Doors, Flowers, Barn. Island. Sea. Sky. Tree. Sun. Animal become powerful images, evoking emotions, provoking questions. Colors symbolize lifeforces of hope and fear. Like Shakespearean stories, he focuses on life, and universal questions about human existence and happiness. A painted flower questions ,”...has our life bloomed or not?” Doors and windows symbolize both protection and limitation.
His paintings are expressionistic, somewhat surreal, often dreamlike. He likes to explore the power of memory and how it changes our perception...how feelings distort reality. His painting style is innocent, honest, at times naive. According to Naru, “...heta ni kaku to omoshiroi. Agi ga deru. Kimochi ga suru.”..which means to paint childishly, imperfectly, is interesting because it allows the feeling to come out.
11"x14"x1 "1/2 Cotton Canvas, Oil
July, 2006.
12"x12"x1,5" Cotton Canvas, Oil
August, 2006.
12"x12"x1.5" Cotton Canvas, Oil
August, 2006.