by Margaret Failoni

I first met Yui eight or nine years ago, when a friend, who normally did not buy art, excitedly informed me he had bought his first work of art. He was walking through the Instituto Allende patio on his way to the coffee shop when he saw a strange painting exhibited in a pop-up space off the patio. He begged me to go see the work and give an opinion on the validity of his purchase. Needless to say, I was amused. The rest is history.

Yui Sakamoto's work consists of paintings that construct a mystical presence, simultaneously referencing the philosophical, religious or mystical past while proposing an almost science-fictional future. The allure of surrealism explores the elusive complex phenomenon of color and time perception and how it has captivated this young artist.

Sakamoto scrutinizes and metamorphosizes the surreal imagery of Bruegel and Bosch for their meticulous renditions of the mystical and/or philosophical thought of their time. While richly culling from the past, Yui negotiates memory and projection, complicating the viewer's relationship to the narrator and how a diaristic premise functions in relationship to belief and doubt. Content is generated from a multiplicity of sources, from family references to art history, from the natural world to the supernatural and the mirrored image.

The images and scenes portrayed are not meant to be harmless jokes, but rather well studied ambiguous metaphors for the present. He encounters the question regarding self-positioning in the framework of various cultural influences with purposeful, knowing irony.

Yui Sakamoto was born in Nagasaki, Japan and immigrated to Mexico with his family while still in his teens. He studied the plastic arts in Monterrey. Having traveled through Europe visiting the continent's most important museums, the artist has concentrated his auto-didactic efforts in Art History with a particular fascination with the world of Surrealism, and a self absorbing appropriation of Mexican mysticism and iconography so prevalent in Mexico, his adopted country.

For Sakamoto, localized details play a crucial role, representing the attempts to understand the world from one's own position and pay attention to what lies just out of sight, not only in reference to a physical content but also a social space, a reflection of the detail and political dimension; not to replicate existing life but to direct attention to often overlooked aspects in the larger social fabric, and he succeeds; heady stuff for one so young.

Losing this young talent is unimaginable and heartbreaking for his family, friends and admirers. Yui Sakamoto will be remembered for his prodigous talent, infectious laugh and the great works of art he leaves with us as a testament of his much too brief presence.

Discover Lokkal:
Watch the two-minute video below.
Then, just below that, scroll down SMA's Community Wall.
Mission

Visit SMA's Social Network

Contact / Contactar