From a distance, Yukino Ohmura’s recreations of classic Tokyo cityscapes look just like the real thing. But upon closer examination, you’ll find thousands of multi-colored sticker dots intricately placed and arranged on black acrylic paint to make up the nighttime scenes of Tokyo’s urban landscapes.
Ohmura told The Verge that the inspiration came from her love of city night scenes. Despite her art professor telling her that "nocturnal themes" are "boring in artwork," she stuck with it — shaking things up by using the dot stickers frequently found in Japanese elementary schools.
”I believe that night scenes are the most beautiful landscapes, so I have some night view pictures on the wall of my house," Ohmura said. "I thought that I could make art more accessible to Japanese people by expressing metropolitan nightscapes with these materials, thereby adding a new twist to a genre that has been said to be 'boring.'"
But the meaning behind the work goes further than just defying her professor and finding the excitement in what’s traditionally thought to be boring. Ohmura told Junk Culture that her artwork aims to understand “truth.”
"Illusion turns out to be truth by keeping a distance from it, and truth may turn out to be illusion too," Ohmura said. "We are trying to struggle in this world which is filled with uncertain and unstable truths. My artworks are part of the truths cut out from this chaotic world."
Ohmura graduated from Tama Art University with a degree in painting. She just finished her solo exhibition, Beautiful Tokyo, at a renowned gallery called valveat81 in Tokyo.
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