Izumi Yokoyama’s imagery envelops the viewer into a mystical and often surreal world that celebrates our deep connection and appreciation of the natural world.  Through a highly detailed process of painstaking drawing, Yokoyama’s unique scenes transcend the medium.  They contemplate the human condition, explored through animal protagonists that capture human emotions and struggles.  The artist describes visions, dreams and emotions that she harbours in her mind, until the image appears strong and powerful enough to translate onto paper.  Her process is intuitive, organic and a meditative evolution of thoughts and feelings that connect with her experience of the world.  They appear like apparitions, capturing fleeting moments that offer a glimpse of ambiguous narrative or otherworldly event that re open to interpretation.  The scenes are ephemeral and reveal a familiar yet enigmatic perception of the natural world.  A thread of mysticism connects the works, suggesting that our relationship with the environment is something intangible, deeply felt and constantly evolving.  

 

Izumi Yokoyama is a multi-media artist born in Niigata, Japan in 1980.  She graduated with an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute and currently lives and works in Taos, New Mexico.  She has exhibited in numerous exhibitions in the US, including Harwood Museum of Art in Taos and Taos Art Museum in New Mexico.