Artist: Yui Yaegashi

Parrasch Heijnen presents the gallery’s second solo exhibition with Tokyo-based artist Yui Yaegashi (b. 1985, Chiba, Japan).

In an ongoing investigation of interwoven layers and chromatic nuance, Yui Yaegashi’s small-scale work exudes a substantial presence. Her oeuvre builds on the extensive history of nonobjective art. Each of Yaegashi’s intentional actions visibly transfers an essence of energy onto the canvas. The artist constructs a novel world through her exploration and experimentation relating to motion, the brushstroke, and time.

The act of creation, of painting, of conceptualizing the size and the space each canvas inhabits, is Yaegashi’s main focus. Perception of scale ebbs and flows as the works are experienced in relation to the body. The artist’s paintings are meant to be taken in both from a distance and at close range, where initial perceptions are dismantled and new details emerge.

To convey the purity of form and texture, Yaegashi carefully chooses every mark. She plays with composition through veiled moments: the unexpected presence of bold color peeking beneath neutral tones, the layering of minimally altered hues, the slight difference in pressure on the brush or knife engage the viewer in these subtle alterations.

Yui Yaegashi lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. Yaegashi received a B.A. from the Tokyo Zokei University’s Department of Painting (2009) and her M.F.A. from Tokyo Zokei University’s Graduate School of Art and Design (2011). Her work has been included in SCHMALTZ at Guimarães, Vienna, Austria; Particularities curated by Chris Sharp at X Museum, Shanghai, China; and in solo exhibitions at Misako & Rosen, Tokyo, Japan; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL; Queer Thoughts, New York, NY; and i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland. In Spring 2020, Yaegashi completed a self-directed residency in New York City supported by the Japanese Government’s Department of Art and Culture. Yui Yaegashi is represented by Parrasch Heijnen in Los Angeles and Misako & Rosen in Tokyo.