IOROI -URBAN / CONTEMPORARY ARTIST-
Biography & Statement
YUKI IOROI
IOROI creates paintings and semi-three-dimensional works with a focus on words/text.
The texts are mainly inspired by human psychology and behavior, and while utilizing the universal human impulse to start reading when presented with words or sentences, they raise questions about human self-awareness and conscious consciousness.
According to research by neuroscientists, humans think about 50,000 to 60,000 times a day, and more than 90% of these thoughts are the same as yesterday and are said to be unconscious. This means that the same thoughts produce the same emotions, lead to the same actions, and fall into a cycle of resulting in the same results. It is also speculated that words that are habitually spoken from unconsciously repeated thoughts contain negative elements for a while.
In her semi-three-dimensional works, she stacks paper with text printed on it in a three-dimensional way like a maze of language, and in her two-dimensional works, she draws the same words over and over again using stencil techniques, symbolizing the "repetition" of ''self-talk'', the words that humans speak in their brains based on their thoughts. In addition, the repetition of the work creates unconscious cycles, and the result of this repetition is expressed as emotions and actions, such as the acquisition of knowledge through repetition and the habituation of conscious choice. By visually clarifying the outline of the message of the work through the text, it becomes a communication tool that can be shared between the viewer and the artist, inviting those who confront the work to a forum for discussion.
In today's world, with the penetration of social media, anyone can access shared spaces, intervene in others' affairs, and disseminate information, and there is a constant flood of banal truths and elegant lies. In this environment, instead of focusing on what is happening or what exists, and what external events that are constantly overflowing, IOROI's works focus on how modern people who are constantly exposed to these things can establish a way of life that is not at the mercy of what they see and hear, and how they can avoid losing sight of them, and place emphasis on the pursuit of messages that can directly affect the inner self of each individual.
What is reality and truth? Do you believe in the world you see, or are you seeing the world you believe in? Through her works, she raises questions that draw attention to the depths of the unconscious everyday life.
[Biography/Education]
1980 Born in Shizuoka, Japan
2001 Study abroad in L.A for 2 years
2007 Graduated from Tokyo Asagaya Art College, School of Image Creation
2011 Moved to London and started a career as an artist
2013 Back to Japan and held a first solo show in Tokyo
2016 Moved to the Netherlands
2023 Back to Japan, live and work in Shizuoka
Yuki blends the delicate material of paper with a bold and thoughtfully confrontational graphic style. She overlaps text with imagery to question our perceptions of self. She sees the power of words to be extremely evocative within her visual messages. Words for her have a unique power, they “…are beautiful and cruel. They have the power to save, change and kill people”. She describes words as powerful tools that are sometimes underestimated and misused. But that there is an optimism that we can change ourselves by choosing to use them well. It is an impowering statement of human opportunity, but one that comes with responsibility.
Eyes are often portrayed across cultures as portals to the soul, Yuki replaces them with words. This elevates the power of the word but also de-personalises the subject so that it could be anyone.
“If the words in the artwork personally resonates in your mind, the person in the artwork can be you.”
by Emma Wilson, Art Historian, Curator and Writer