ULALA IMAI
Name: Ulala Imai
Age: 41
Birthplace: Kanagawa, Japan
Home: Kanagawa, Japan
Discipline: Painting
Ranger, 2023, oil on canvas, picture by Kei Okano, courtesy of the artist and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
What are the main topics you deal with in your practice?
To create illusions of everyday life using the medium of oil painting.
How do you define your artistic research in three words?
Stage, Scenes, Life.
What images and spaces do you want to create through your work?
I want to create a painterly space with references to classical Western painting. For me, the narrative nature of my paintings tends to become stronger as I put together familiar motifs. While setting up the motifs, I am having fun with them as if it were an extension of playing, but when it’s finished, I’m trying to make it stand on its own. That’s my goal—to create a painting that stands on its own beyond its narrative dimension.
Where and how do you find poetry?
I find poetry in the four seasons. They bring back memories and tell us that time is moving forward. I find that very poetic and dramatic.
In your view, what does being an artist mean in today’s world?
We all die, but artists leave behind materialised images of an era they lived in. Art remains and people continue to admire, discuss and love it over time.
Marriage, 2023, oil on canvas, picture by Kei Okano, courtesy of the artist and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels