J apanese painter Ulala Imai’s playful twist on mundane subjects allows her to tell stories of relationships and family through creative vision. As an up-and-coming artist in the contemporary art scene, Imai has participated in Art Basel Miami Beach and held multiple solo exhibitions, with recent notable ones in recent years including The Sentimental Organization of the World at Galerie Crevecoeur, Paris in 2020 as well as Melody at Parco Museum in Tokyo in 2021. In 2022, the artist also hosted her solo show Reminiscence at Union Pacific, London, while her forthcoming exhibition will be held in Karma, New York later this year.

Often bright and colorful, Imai’s works consist of whimsical compositions of still life objects, often times in unexpected groupings and pairs, executed with masterful oil painting techniques that she has nurtured from a young age. With her loudest inspiration coming from her children to her daily surroundings, the artist is able to create luminous and fun images through a few brush strokes, emphasizing the capture of the mundane and the penetration of light in the atmosphere.

Fruits emanates lively energy and youthfulness, depicting a still life of ripe fruit platters laid on a blue surface while a koala plushie stares upwards, grape in its mouth with gummy bears and juice bags fill the spaces in between dishes, creating an innocuous scene suggesting the presence of children. Imai uses bright and warm tones in the piece, imitating natural sunlight showering on the objects to create a luminescent feel. While the piece demonstrates the artist’s celebration of the everyday, however, it also exemplifies the subtle reflection of interpersonal dynamics that Imai frequently references in her pieces by projecting human feelings and, nuances of relationships and familial struggles onto the mundane objects.

日 本畫家今井麗以趣味無窮的手法呈現日常生活物件，透過她的創意視野來講述關係和家庭的故事。今井麗是一顆冉冉上升的藝壇新星，曾多次舉辦個展並曾參加Art Basel邁阿密海灘展會。近年參與的重要展覽包括2020年在巴黎Crevecoeur畫廊舉行的「世界感傷組織」以及2021年在東京Parco Museum舉行的「旋律」。2022年，今井麗在倫敦Union Pacific畫廊舉行個展「往事」，新個展也即將在同年於紐約Karma畫廊啓幕。

今井麗的作品多從新奇有趣的角度描繪靜物，畫面明亮鮮豔，而且別出心裁的物件組合形式經常令人眼前一亮，完全施展出她精湛的油畫技術，而這技巧是自小培養的成果。今井麗從她的孩子和日常環境中獲得靈感，憑著寥寥數筆，便創造出閃閃發光又新穎有趣的圖像，完美地捕捉生活平凡的一刻和光綫注滿空間的效果。

《水果》散發出一股生意盎然的青春活力，藍色的平面上有不同的水果和一個果盤，還有一隻嘴裏含著葡萄、眼睛瞧著上方的小熊玩偶，它和小熊軟糖以及袋裝果汁一起填滿了盤子之間的空隙，組成了一片天真無邪的畫面，並透露出小孩的生活痕跡。今井麗在此作中運用明亮和暖的色調，藉以營造陽光灑在物件上、光彩動人的樣子。作品呈現出藝術家對日常生活的觀察，同時也隱含了人與人之間微妙的互動關係，也就是藝術家將人類情感、關係細節和家庭衝突投射在日常物件中，也就是今井麗典型的創作手法。