When I wrote about Kyoko Okubo’s diminutive paper menagerie in July, 2007 I marveled at her vivid imagination and wondered out loud why my super-sleuth skills could not uncover more about the Tokyo based artist.
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[private_archives]Thanks to a comment on my original post by Scott Rothstein, a friend of Okubo’s, we know a little more about this quiet soul, whose new works were recently on exhibit at the Mobilia Gallery.
Bag, 8″ x 10.5″ x 4″
Okubo, who has had no formal art training, creates each piece by forming washi paper over wire frames. She has been making the narrative paper sculptures for more than ten years. Almost always female figures and animals, they are self-portraits that represent her deeply rooted feelings for nature.
Bicycle, 5″ x 3.5″ x 2″
Describing his friend’s work Rothstein says, “Her paper sculptures are like a dream diary, suggesting stories that are not quite of this world. Interpreting her emotions, Kyoko Okubo has shaped an unorthodox collection of intuitive sculptures that are profoundly personal and visually intriguing.” Intriguing…yes.
More images on Art Found Out
Older works at Mobilia
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I sent a link to my sister. We agree these are haunting and beautiful. I could look at them all day. Thank you for revisiting something I missed the first time you posted. You made my day!
Kim
These are amazing. So detailed and beautiful. Thand you for sharing them.
These are sweet! Love the meerkat/prairie dog on the tricycle.
[...] lot has already been written about this artist, on Daily Art Muse and Art Found Out, so I’m not really going to review her work. I wanted to comment on a [...]
Just a little update.
I wrote an article on Kyoko that will be coming out in American Craft soon. They are not sure of the date, but I think they will run it in the late spring or in the summer issue.
There will be a bit more information on her that I have written before and I think there will be 2 pages on her.
Scott
[...] had a bit of trouble finding out about the artist, and finally stumbled upon a site that shed slightly more light on Okubo. We still don’t know much about the lady, but we know [...]
[...] soulful washi paper figures – so much that I wrote about her work in 2007 and again in 2009. I pray that the Tokyo based artist and her loved ones are safe during this unsettling time of [...]