The Reincarnation Series by Yoshiyuki Koinuma

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Feb 19

2013

by Thilina Heenatigala

Published: Tuesday, February 19 2013 07:20

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Yoshiyuki’s “Reincarnation Series” was conceived after he spent a 2-week vacation in Japan in March 2010—which coincided exactly with the catastrophic 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, including the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident and great loss of life.

“I recognized how strong the power of nature is and how our life is sometimes really fragile,” Yoshiyuki says.  “Since this experience, I have been getting a recurring image of me on a desert planet in outer space, surrounded by a psychedelic sky at the end of days.  It has caused me to rethink the relationship between Buddhism and myself—I’m always thinking the question of where dead people’s soul is going.”

The deep thoughts and feelings brought on by the earthquake and tsunami, he explains, were the starting-point for painting his “Reincarnation Series.”

“In this painting many butterflies are flying in the sky, he points out.  “In old Japanese stories it's believed that some people after death will become butterflies and that they will fly in circles (the circle of rebirth) to travel somewhere to another world as the human souls in the Universe.  In this old Japanese story is where I got the inspiration for this work, where the larva becomes a beautiful figure.”

Along with deep thoughts of life, death, and eternity, Yoshiyuki is also influenced by daily topics.  For example, when painting his “Reincarnation Series #6,” he happened to read a news article about NASA’s Mars Lander “Curiosity” landing successfully on Mars.  In the article it was predicted that humankind will be able to create oxygen and seas on Mars within the next thousand years.  Impressed by that prediction, he imagined a Mars atmosphere for painting his Reincarnation Series #6.  “I hope to continue making paintings with everyday topics and a lot of humor through my free imagination,” he concludes.

A word about technique: In producing his collage works, Yoshiyuki typically coats them with epoxy to protect them—which gives them a unique, shiny look.  On top of the epoxy he sometimes uses glitter, which also gives the work a feeling of “layered perspective.”

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Links:

- AWB Astro-Artist of the Month: February 2013; Yoshiyuki Koinuma.

- Yoshiyuki Koinuma website.