Yuko Adachi

We were drawn to the surreal nature of these animal portraits by Yuko. They have an intriguing mix of 'cuteness' with something more unsettling underpinning them.

“I value…those artists…who consciously or unconsciously…embody the expression of their inner life…and who cannot work... More»

We were drawn to the surreal nature of these animal portraits by Yuko. They have an intriguing mix of 'cuteness' with something more unsettling underpinning them.

“I value…those artists…who consciously or unconsciously…embody the expression of their inner life…and who cannot work otherwise.” Wassily Kandinsky.

In her own words, which resonate with those in Kandinsky’s Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Yuko Adachi, describes her mission as an artist, as an effort to “merge artistic emotion and awakened spiritual consciousness.” For Ms. Adachi, the “unknown path” of a new work is also the potential threshold for a spiritual journey. She feels most alive when her artistic and spiritual energies unite as she allows herself to simply “dive in”, freed from preconceived ideas.

This liberating process is clearly evident in her diverse mixed-media works on paper, wherein not only media and subject may vary dramatically, but so do her techniques and styles of drawing and painting. There is no greater contrast than in her works where she employs graphite and those in which she employs Sumi, traditional Japanese ink. To a degree her diversity stems from her international upbringing from early childhood. She was born in Tokyo, Japan and was raised in Paris, London and the United States of America besides her motherland.

Yuko Adachi strives for an inner “stillness” in her paintings where she believes she and those who see her works can merge in recognizing not only the universal human condition, but also in a mutual longing for spiritual awakening and enlightenment.

One might see the bright colours of her palette and the undulating, curving forms that unite her compositions as a joyful expression of this conviction. However, she does not leave these positive expressions solely to the colours or forms she employs repeatedly; for the titles of her works also express the range of her metaphysical explorations and curiosity.

Frequently, she produces variations on a single theme, as in the Microcosm and the One Breath Series, where her energy flows from drawing to another.

It is no surprise that Yuko Adachi reveres the ground-breaking paintings of Wassily Kandinsky.

(Text by William Thrasher)

Commissioned Public Art
2008 City of Boston, Paint Box, Boston, Massachusetts

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2007 Keiko gallery, Expression: The State of Being, Boston, Massachusetts
2004 Berman Gallery, Tufts Health Plan Headquarters, Watertown, Massachusetts
Two Person Exhibitions
2008 Baak Gallery, Inside Out, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2001 Upstairs at Johnson Art Gallery, Awakening Of the Soul, Boston, Massachusetts

Selected Group Exhibitions
2009 Vivid Wonderfs of a Startled Imagination, the MCLA's Gallery 51, North Adams, MA
2009 Home is where the Asrt is, Children's Hospital Boston, The Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
2009 Celebrating the Women's History month, The Mayor's Gallery, Boston City Hall

2008 Hit The Deck SXSW Aurtin Texas, Austin, Texas
Baak Gallery, Inside Out, Cambridge, Massachusetts

2008 Hit The Deck at WMC, Miami, Florida
2008 Venus Gallery, Mixed, Plates Plus Metal, San Francisco, California
2008 The Mills Gallery at the BCA, Invitational, Future Arts 2008, Boston, Massachusetts
2007 Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Visions, Juror’s choice, Juror Director Clark Gallery, Lincoln, Massachusetts
2007 Scollay Square Gallery at Boston City Hall, Flora, in celebration of woman’s history month, Boston, Massachusetts
2005 University Place Gallery, Red, 2nd prize, Juror Nick Capasso at Decordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts
2005 Bromfield Art Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2005 Zeitgeist Gallery, Sound Of Paintings, collaboration w/composers/musicians La Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2005 Kathrine Schultz Gallery, Works on Paper, Juror, A. Witkin at Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2005 Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston Drawing Project, Boston, Massachusetts
2005 Mark Gallery, Cuatro, curated by Bert Antonio, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2005 The Mills Gallery at the BCA, 18th Annual Drawing show, Juror, Raphaela Platow,,Roseart Museum,Waltham, MA
2003 South Shore Art Centre, Works on paper, Juror Director Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2001 Oppai Art Exhibition, International Juried Exhibition sponsored by Wacol, Kyoto, Japan
2001 The FPAC Gallery, Between Lines, curated group shows by James Mannings, Boston, Massachusetts
2001 Upstairs at Johnson Art Gallery, Awakening Of The Soul, Boston, Massachusetts
1999 Nikaten, Art competition, Tokyo, Japan

Awards, Scholoarships and Grants
2007 Best in Painting, Healing Power Of Art
2007 Manhattan Art International, New York
2007 1st Prize, Vernal Escape, Art scope, New England’s Culture Magazine
2007 Juror’s Choice, Vision, CambridgeArt Juried Competition, Juror, Pamela Clark Cochrane Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2006 Luminary Pick, The SMFA, Juror, Valerie Wilder, Executive Director, Boston Ballet, Boston MA
2006 Fellowship grant, Vermont Art Center, Vermont, U.S.A.
2005 2nd Prize, RED, CambridgeArt National Juried Competition, Juror N. Capasso at De Cordova Museum, Lincoln MA
2004 2nd Prize, 18th Annual Exhibition, Boston Public Library, Massachusetts
2003 Paul Goodnight Artist Grant, Life Drawing, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts