Artist Statement
I create works on paper and sculptural installations that explore the interconnectedness and resilience of nature in a post-human landscape, where organisms self-destruct, adapt, and flourish. I invent moments when plants and animals restructure within and entangle with each other. A fungus causes a beetle to sprout a peony from its horns; grass grows on ladybugs as they migrate to better lands. I draw on a large scale—often over 100 inches—to create immersive experiences with human-sized insects and flowers that challenge our perceived superiority over nature. I build sculptures that mirror these worlds and suspend or arrange them across ceilings, floors, and walls. I fuse natural elements such as tree roots with synthetic resins and plastics to create a futuristic nature where organic and synthetic parts grow as one.
In 1946, my grandmother started a kimono business in Kyoto. My aesthetic draws from the materials, designs, and nature-inspired motifs found in those kimonos. I paint on paper using traditional Japanese mineral pigments (Nihonga) used by kimono designers, then collage iridescent plastics that reflect light and shift in color. This combination electrifies the work with supernatural wonder—it shimmers with a magical bioluminescence. By layering Japanese watercolor with iridescent plastic, I challenge the boundaries of traditional craft, reflecting both resistance and renewal in the work and in myself.
I make this work to explore survival—my own, and that of the natural world. As an immigrant, I relate to how plants and animals respond to change through mutation, symbiosis, and resilience. I imagine myself as the plants and animals—inhabiting their struggles, adaptations, and will to live. While making the work, I become the animal; there is no barrier between their experience and mine. The unexpected materials and approaches I use act as a form of creative resistance, reflecting my own shifting identity. This work is how I process ecological despair and express empathy for all living things.
Bio
Yuko Oda (b.1975, Tokyo, Japan) is a multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of science, technology, and empathy. Oda obtained a MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and BA from Duke University. She exhibited at SIGGRAPH Asia (Macao), Dumbo Arts Festival (NY), Calvin-Morris Gallery (NY), Beijing Today Art Museum, Maki Fine Arts (Tokyo), Annemarie Sculpture Garden and Art Center (MD), the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, among others. Oda was a recipient of the Goetemann Artist Residency fellowship in 2015. Oda’s animation, “Take Off” was a finalist in the international animation competition “Artport: Cool Stories for When the Planet Gets Hot”, and screened internationally, including the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York, DIA Center (NY), Art Supermarket (Stockholm), Art Miami Basel (FL), Bridge Art Fair (NY), Diva Art Fair (Paris) and Scope Art Fair (Basel/NY). Oda was an artist resident at the Vermont Studio Center, Chashama North Residency, Goetemann Residency, and Byrdcliffe Artist Residency.
After living and working in New York for 15 years, Oda moved to Boston in 2017. She currently teaches in the Art and Design Department at University of Massachusetts Lowell.