photos by spoon & tamago
If you’ve ever walked home late at night in Japan you may recognize some of the deafeningly quiet scenes created by Yusuke Yagi. Using primarily traditional Japanese painting materials like natural pigments (iwaenogu), mica (unmo) and mashi, a type of traditional paper made from hemp, Yagi portrays a world after dark, in which all creatures have gone to bed.
Born and raised in Kyoto, the 22-year old artist creates late-night scenes that are both realistic, but that also hint of mystery, or fantasy. Each piece’s title (ie: 2:46 am) is derived from the time in which the artist captured the scene. Although quiet and reserved, there’s a certain tension in Yagi’s paintings. It’s as if something is about to break the peaceful silence, pummeling our world into violent chaos. However, at the same time there’s a certain reassurance in knowing that nothing like that would ever happen in Japan.
