Art Projects Gallery is delighted to present Japanese artist, Yumi Masuda’s inaugural solo exhibition in Hong Kong, titled THE TRANSIENT DIARY.

Born in Fukushima, Yumi’s works convey a sense of inner strength and sublime calmness. Visiting her home after the twin disasters of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and nuclear power plant incident that devastated her hometown, she found her garden overgrown with wild plants and flowers. While feeling despondent by the disasters, she felt the positive energy from the plants and became fascinated by the mysterious life force and bilateral character of nature.

THE TRANSIENT DIARY is a collection of works reflecting Yumi’s revelation about how nature, people and everything else are in a state of constant change, assuming multiple roles and displaying transformed – and sometimes opposite - characteristics. In her paintings, Yumi emancipates her subjects from their original roles to create fresh narratives and stories.

Inspired by the mysterious power of nature, Yumi’s works often feature intricately detailed floral and plant motifs as metaphors for time and transformation. Yumi’s creative process is highly intuitive, in which she embarks on every work without any preconceived image of the final product. Each work continually transforms and evolves until the artist’s final stroke, very much like how nature works.

Yumi Masuda graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts with a Bachelor of Art (Painting) degree in 2008 and a Master of Art (Painting) degree in 2010. 

Artist's Statement
Everything is free in paintings. Animals, plants, people, and industrial products – all things are free from their own roles in the real world. The characters that are free from their original roles exist in paintings wearing its new meaning. 

I don't present clearly what those new meanings are. I hope you will feel the freedom of the characters by being a part of the painting.

When I paint, I connect motives as if I am doing a word associating game.  What kind of connections I make depends strongly on how I feel at any given time. Therefore, my works changes from the very beginning to the end, often incorporating various thoughts that are beyond words.

藝途畫廊榮幸舉辦日本藝術家，増田有美，在香港的首度個人作品展 『瞬間的日記』。

出生於日本福島，有美的作品傳達了一種內在情感的力量和平靜的昇華。 2011年3月11日，日本褔島大地震和核電站事故，雙重災害摧毀了有美的家鄉。災難過後她重返褔島，發現家裡的花園裡長滿了野生的植物和花卉。深受災難所帶來的沮喪的同時，然而她亦從植物中感受到正能量，為大自然神秘的生命力和其雙邊性質所著迷。

『瞬間的日記』一系列作品反映了有美從自然、人和世界一切事物所得的啟示。它們不斷的在變化、承擔多重角色、顯示被轉換的特性——有時甚至是相反的特性。在有美的作品中，她試圖解放作品中主題故有的角色，創造新鮮的敘事和故事。

有美的創作靈感來自於大自然的神秘力量，作品往往具有精巧的花卉和植物圖案隱喻著時間和改變。有美的創作過程非常的直觀，她開始創作每一件作品時都沒有最終完成品的任何預想圖像。每件作品，在藝術家未完成她的最後一筆前，都是經過不斷的變化和發展，有如大自然生態的運作。

増田有美分別於2008年及2010年，於東京藝術大學獲得學士和碩士學位，主修繪畫。

藝術家自述
在繪畫的世界裡，一切都是自由的。動物、植物、人類和工業產品——所有的事物都可以從現實世界故有的角色中解脫。 人或事物擺脫了原本的角色，在作品裡以新的含義存在著。

我不會明確地呈現新的含義是什麼。我希望你能成為我的作品的一部分，試圖感受作品中角色的自由。

當我在進行創作時，我會將動機連接，有如在玩文字連接遊戲。我會做出什麼樣的聯繫，在很大的程度上都取決于在我在某個時間點的心情。因此，我的作品從開始到結束都不停的變化，往往融入了用語言所無法表達的想法。

我希望打從我的心底，畫出一個小世界，一個能讓妳聯想到充滿了喜悅、悲傷、真理、謊言等等，無窮想像的故事。