Audrey Kawasaki
The themes in Audrey Kawasaki's work are contradictions within themselves. Her work is both innocent and erotic. Each subject is attractive yet disturbing. Kawasaki's precise technical style is at once influenced by both manga comics and Art Nouveau. Her sharp graphic imagery is combined with the natural grain of the wood panels she paints on, bringing an unexpected warmth to enigmatic subject matter.
The figures she paints are seductive and contain an air of melancholy. They exist in their own sensually esoteric realm, yet at the same time present a sense of accessibility that draws the observer to them. These mysterious young women captivate with the direct stare of their bedroom eyes.
"Sometimes it’s OK to fall in love with pretty things and the alluring paintings of LA artist Audrey Kawasaki may well merit adoration through their aesthetic appeal alone, but there is a bit more to the gorgeous fantasy characters she creates on wood panel after wood panel. Death via skull imagery abounds in her works and sex is always brought up. Precious, pouty, sad-eyed and sexy, Audrey’s girls most often appear before us as if in the midst of their greatest indulgence, but right alongside the slightest of hints at the ephemeral nature of it all. In the end, all Audrey leaves for us to do after is wish we had been there for that (hopefully not so very) otherworldly moment too." —Whitney May, NY Arts Magazine
Forget Me Not oil, acrylic, and graphite on wood panel 36"x20" 2012