Born in Fukushima, Yumi’s works convey a sense of inner strength and sublime calmness. Visiting her home after the twin disasters of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and nuclear power plant incident that devastated her hometown, she found her garden overgrown with wild plants and flowers. While feeling despondent by the disasters, she felt the positive energy from the plants and became fascinated by the mysterious life force and bilateral character of nature.

THE TRANSIENT DIARY is a collection of works reflecting Yumi’s revelation about how nature, people and everything else are in a state of constant change, assuming multiple roles and displaying transformed – and sometimes opposite - characteristics. In her paintings, Yumi emancipates her subjects from their original roles to create fresh narratives and stories.

Inspired by the mysterious power of nature, Yumi’s works often feature intricately detailed floral and plant motifs as metaphors for time and transformation. Yumi’s creative process is highly intuitive, in which she embarks on every work without any preconceived image of the final product. Each work continually transforms and evolves until the artist’s final stroke, very much like how nature works.

Yumi Masuda graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts with a Bachelor of Art (Painting) degree in 2008 and a Master of Art (Painting) degree in 2010. 

Artist's Statement

Everything is free in paintings. Animals, plants, people, and industrial products – all things are free from their own roles in the real world. The characters that are free from their original roles exist in paintings wearing its new meaning. 

I don't present clearly what those new meanings are. I hope you will feel the freedom of the characters by being a part of the painting.

When I paint, I connect motives as if I am doing a word associating game.  What kind of connections I make depends strongly on how I feel at any given time. Therefore, my works changes from the very beginning to the end, often incorporating various thoughts that are beyond words.

I hope to paint from the bottom of my heart, the small world that could make you imagine many stories with joy, grief, truth and lies…