“I’m keen on animals!”

A baby elephant among flowers, impetuous deer, a squirrel on a girl’s shoulder, and a cat with pink and blue spots around its eyes – these characters of Yoshiko are simple and wonderful like the joy you feel when a bird sings sweetly at dawn. The works of this Tokyo-based lady illustrator are being displayed at Kyiv’s Orthodox gallery. The exhibit was organized by the Pictoric club of illustrators.

“I love animals. I’m just keen on them! These images are a fruit of fantasy – inspiration comes, you sit down and draw,” Yoshiko Hada says. “I also like creating bright and rich colors. Pink is my favorite.”

In Yoshiko’s view, the reason why the Japanese respect animals may be connected with Buddhism, one of the main religions in the country. “But I can’t say that everybody is a very devout Buddhist and this attitude comes from this,” the artist continues. “Yet this may derive from a general idea, which also exists in Buddhism: that all objects have a soul and one should treat them with love and respect.”

Pictoric people say that Yoshiko combines painting, collage, and digital print in work. The artist makes illustrations for periodicals, works for TV, designs music albums, takes part in international exhibits, and wins in some of them. Yoshiko’s exhibit opens a season of solo projects held by the Ukrainian club of illustrators at Orthodox.

“We invited Yoshiko to take part in the exhibit ‘Incidentally, Life Is Beautiful’ staged at the Book Arsenal festival. We also invited artists from Latin America, Europe, Korea, and Taiwan. We wanted to show the artworks that are uncommon and non-commercial for Ukraine, as well as some interesting drawings by Ukrainian illustrators. Yoshiko drew two posters and asked if she could come to this exhibit. Japanese illustrators visit us very seldom, so we agreed and suggested that she also stage a solo exhibit,” says Oleh Hryshchenko, co-curator of the Pictoric club of illustrators.

In Ukraine, many may find Yoshiko’s works untypical of what is popularly considered as Japanese illustration. “We usually associate Japanese illustration with something closer to classical drawings or anime, whereas Yoshiko presents brilliant, expressive, sincere, and heartfelt works. It is classy, for very few in Ukraine allow themselves to draw like this,” Hryshchenko notes.

Yoshiko says it is a vogue in Japan now to make books with illustrations – one person writes a story and another draws illustrations to it. Some of the artist’s characters also become heroes of these books. “But the works displayed here have no special stories behind them. They are sort of photographs that depict certain moments in the life of animals,” Yoshiko adds.

“Illustrating is huge well-balanced business in Japan,” Hryshchenko asserts. “There is a division between commercial projects and independent illustrators. In the countries of high printing art, all niches are divided and everybody chooses in which he or she will work. In Ukraine, book publishing is not big business so far, but it is also a plus because something new always sounds great here.”

Yoshiko Hada’s exhibit will remain open at Orthodox until June 14.