Yoshimi Odawara
1947 Born in Tokyo Japan
1970 Graduated from Joshibi University of Art & Design (industry design course)
1988 Graduated from Sokei Academy of Art & Design (studies course)
1989 Graduated from Sokei Academy of Art & Design (formative arts course)
2001-2002 Stay at La Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris
2006-2020 Live and work in France
2020-autumn Returned to Japan, live and work in Tokyo
When it comes to a new creation, I usually start my sketches by a point deliberately distant from the world I intend to depict. I thus make many detours before I finally come to the picture I want to paint. I consider that my pieces of work should be the oucomes of my life experience. This is the reason why I feel the need to achieve countless sketches and take the time to convince myself. Through numerous outlines, I explore the history of life, from the origin of the universe up to the present, then I muse on the future and the condition of the world and mankind. By this means, little by little, I get closer to the world I ought to represent.
My work is made up of several series. While some of them have a direct connection to the previous ones, others function as a trigger and bring about a new sequence when the preceding work has come to a dead end.
As a person living in a forever changing world and society, and aiming at the creation of a holistic work of art, I think that, with time, it is necessary to acknowledge new sequences of paintings as much as it is essential to embrace the shifts of the world.
