
An interview with artist Yosuke Ueno for his upcoming show ‘Beautiful Noise’ at Thinkspace Gallery. The opening reception for ‘Beautiful Nosie’ is Saturday, May 23, and is on view till June 13.
SH: Can you share with us something that scares you and something that makes you really happy?
YU: Recently I recognized that the happiest thing is simple like, living with delicious meals, and good sleep in a comfortable bed. Since I found that, I can always feel happy whether it is rain or shine. What always scare me are people with no imagination.
SH: Favorite food after a long day or night of painting?
YU: Everything my wife cooks for me.
SH: What is your creative process? How long does it take to finish an average painting?
YU: Whatever and whenever I create, time which I spent for a work is whole my life. So if I finish a painting today, I can say it takes 37 years and 11month to do this piece.

SH: Are you a cat or dog person?
YU: I like both. I always try not to belong any “groups.”
SH: Your work is extremely colorful. On average how many different paint colors do you use?
YU: I’ve never counted how many paint colors I use when I paint. However, I am always really concern with where to put colors, because color layout is one of most important things in my artworks. The better the colors go together, the more colorful the work looks. For example, it is sometimes said that girls I depict have rainbow color hairs, but I use only four colors to paint those colorful hair girls.
SH: Do you have a favorite paint brand and brush right now?
YU: The brand is not a matter for me. Any brushes improve with use. For me, price of tools are not important at all.
SH: Your characters’ hair are often colored like a rainbow and your work features repeating words and acronyms throughout. Please explain the symbolic significance of these for those not already familiar with your work and the vast visual keys that each piece contain.
YU: I love science and it is a good inspiration for me, because phenomenon of science happens to everyone equally regardless of race, religion, or sex. I often put an acronym ATGC in my works. The ATGC means four bases of DNA: Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine. In my opinion, the ATGC is a symbol of peace because all animate being shares the molecular elements. I think we are not usually aware of what important for our life because of that’s simplicity. I use some motifs repeatedly to remind those simple but important things.*

SH: What is the main inspiration behind your upcoming show, Beautiful Noise?
YU:I can say my hobby is to think. So I’m always thinking about things all the time while I am awake. However, those that I always think about are not enough to be called philosophy, and I call those as noise in my mind. I think my duty is to output those noises into my artworks. Beautiful Noise, it’s a title for works come up with noises in my mind.
SH: How many cups of coffee or tea do you drink a day?
YU: The first thing I do in the morning is to fill my Thermos with coffee by milling the beans by myself.
SH: When did you know / decide to be a professional artist?
YU: When I was seven. The reason was that my friends enjoyed cartoons I drew.

SH: What advice would you give a new artist who looks up to you?
YU: I have no idea now…let me think about that until next time.
SH: Any other toy / figure projects you can share that are coming up on the horizon?
YU: Well, I can’t announce it yet, but one character shown in this show would come up with a figure in the Christmas season. Stay tuned!
SH: Star Wars or Star Trek?
YU: I can’t discuss Star Wars without watching the triptych that is going to be released hereafter, and neither can I discuss Star Trek because there’re too much Star Trek series and I haven’t watched those enough to talk something about it. Maybe I will be like 60 years old when I can speak something about it.

*For more information on the meaning behind the symbols used in Yosuke’s work, please visit his website .