The elemental art of Fuco Ueda

Fuco Ueda’s paintings lull viewers into a dream state. Characters float as if untethered by gravity, pillowy clouds and mist cast an air of mystery, and strange animals live alongside human companions. But just like the unconscious mind does in dreams, things often turn dark. Fires and shocks of lightning suggest danger, and the characters’ expressions are aloof and unmoored.

上田风子的绘画让观众如坠梦境。人物漂浮在空中，仿佛不受重力束缚，柔软云朵和薄雾令画面蒙上一层神秘氛围，各种怪奇动物与人类共同生活。但是，正如无意识的梦境，画面的风格逐渐暗黑。火焰与雷电预兆着危险，但人物的表情却超然物外，不为所动。

On her canvases, soft colors are delicately blended; dainty nightgowns are the preferred attire, and velvety textures envelop each scene. This is all contrasted with bloodshot eyes, threatening storms, and exposed skeletons. The mood is never outright angry, but there’s always a disturbing element lurking just below the calm surface.

在她的绘画作品中，柔和的色彩微妙融合在一起，人们通常穿着精美的睡袍，整个画面呈现出丝绒般质感。然而，人物充血的双眼、猛烈的暴风雨和赤裸裸的骷髅却与之形成了鲜明的对比。作品虽无一丝激烈的愤怒情绪，但在平静的表面之下，却总涌动着一股令人不安的气息。

Ueda has been fine-tuning her art for the past 20 years. She paints with acrylic paints and Japanese pigments on paper or canvas, which are then encased in a glassy, reflective resin. In person, her work is so deeply glazed it’s reflective, but that’s a quality that unfortunately doesn’t translate through photos. After applying the resin, she drips paint onto it as it dries, adding more texture and swirling colors. This final step in her process is an act largely out of her control, which is precisely the intent. She says she’s tapping into the concept of surrealist automatism—using her body’s unplanned movements to achieve designs she couldn’t otherwise. It’s a bridging of the conscious and subconscious through process, much like her subject matters. “My work is a fantasy, but it definitely corresponds with reality,” Ueda says. “The unconscious dream world touches the folds of the heart and can expand the imagination of human beings. It’s a place that lies between the subtleties of fiction and reality.”

在过去 20 年里，上田一直在打磨自己的作品。她采用丙烯酸颜料和日式颜料，选取纸面或帆布来作为媒介，然后装裱于玻璃般的反光树脂中。她的作品实物看起来就如同上了釉一般光滑，会折射出令人眼前一亮的光芒，但很遗憾，拍摄成照片后就往往无法传达出这一特点。在涂上树脂层、表面干燥了以后，她会再在上面滴颜料，增添画面的层次质感和颜色旋涡。最后的一步，是刻意地抑制自己有意识的控制。她解释说自己正在探索超现实主义自动化（surrealist automatism）的创作概念，利用身体的无意识动作，来呈现她原本无法做到的效果。在这个过程中，将意识与潜意识相联系，就好似她笔下的人物所呈现出来的状态那样。

上田说：“我的作品是一种幻想，但又能呼应现实。无意识的梦境可以触动内心，激发人们的想象力，界乎于虚幻和现实的微妙之间。

Much of her paintings are initially inspired by real places and experiences. Although the 42-year-old artist has lived in Tokyo since her university days, her countryside hometown in Tochigi prefecture plays an outsized role in her creations. She grew up surrounded by nature and animals, and it shows in her art. The area also has one of the highest rates of lightning storms in the country, something that’s also left an indelible impression on her. Thunderbolts strike often in her paintings, appearing as violent streaks of amber and peach across expanses of teal and violet.

上田大部分画作的灵感最初都来源于现实环境和经历。尽管这位 42 岁的艺术家从上大学以来就一直住在东京，但她的家乡枥木县对她的创作也有着深远影响。从小在大自然和动物的包围下长大的她，在作品中体现了出来。枥木县也是日本雷暴最频繁的地区之一，这给她留下了不可磨灭的印象。她经常在画中描绘雷电，在蓝绿色和紫罗兰色背景上，把雷电演绎为闪耀的琥珀色和桃红色条纹。

The elements rule Ueda’s world. The destruction and purification of fire, the elusive freedom of water, the vitality of air, and the fertility of earth. The women in her paintings often seem lost, adrift in the vastness of the natural world. They lay listless in shallow eddies or become swallowed by an endless fog. But she always aspires to conjure a sense of hope. One new series is called Tomoshibi, which in Japanese means a light that lives in the heart. A grain of hope.

在上田的艺术世界里，古老的地球元素占据着重要的创作比例——“火”的毁灭与净化，“水”的难以捉摸，“气”的蓬勃活力以及“土”的肥沃丰饶。她画中的女孩看上去一脸茫然，漂浮于自然世界的浩渺之中。她们冷淡地躺在浅浅的涟漪中，或者被无尽的雾气吞噬。但她始终想通过自己的作品，激发人们内心的希望。《Tomoshibi》是她最近的作品系列，在日语中意为“生活在内心的光”，即一线希望。

There’s an innocence to Ueda’s characters, revealed by their poses and expressions. Ueda hopes that people will use these characters as a judgeless mirror to reflect on themselves, both of what they’re aware of and what they might not be: “I believe that people desire art in order to come face to face with their hidden selves.”

上田所描绘的人物姿势和表情透露出一种纯真的气质。她希望观众能把这些角色当作一面客观的镜子来反思自己，包括意识到和未意识到的一面：“我觉得人们都希望能透过艺术来直面自己隐藏的一面。”