By Kyle R Willis

If you appreciate art in all of its many forms, it is likely that you have stumbled upon, at one time or another, the artwork of Audrey Kawasaki. No, this is not a motorcycle. She is, in fact, an accomplished artist with a unique and distinctive style. Kawasaki, 27, is from Los Angeles, California and is best known for her most common medium: oil & graphite on wood.
Kawasaki is fast making a name for herself in the California scene. This shy introvert is a nightmare for an interviewer, but a dream for an art lover. Her parents are both from Japan, and the beauty that I recognize from the Japanese culture comes through in her artwork and rightly so. She reports that she was immersed in the Japanese culture as a youth, even attending Japanese school once a week, watching Japanese television as well as listening to the country’s Pop culture. She took personal lessons in drawing and painting towards the end of middle school which was a big help in finding her style and honing her skill. It only took two years at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York for Audrey to realize that it wasn’t for her. She actually may have been ushered to the door by the fact that two of her professors saw paintings of hers on wood similar to the ones she became famous for and said she should stop that and never do such things again. I’d love to see those two now…

Her artistic style and precise technical linear method has been compared to a cross between Art Nouveau and the styling of manga comics. I would love to have come up with a better way of wording that, but after looking at her work, that’s about as dead on a description as I think a mind could come up with. I can’t escape the feeling that her work reminds me of fantasy artist Quinton Hoover. There is a fantasy essence, her vivid edges and crisp outlines are juxtaposed against shading both within her subjects and without. It’s stark by comparison and very appealing to the eye. I would definitely love to own an original work of hers.
She has an affinity towards portraying young females, usually with erotic or somehow sexually charged undertones. When asked about this she said that her work is an exploration of sorts; a search for a fundamental female being that she is always seeking to convey. Drawing the female figure comes natural to Audrey; it’s something she can never tire of. She goes on to say that every piece she has done, although different in physical appearance, is still this fundamental female figure she is constantly aspiring to find and create. She contrasts the method to that of digging; sometimes she finds what she’s digging for, sometimes she doesn’t, but there’s a piece of this entity in every one of her works. For this artist this female is an addiction, and all of her fans are glad that she comes back for more. She was commissioned to create the album art for NY City based vocalist Alice Smith’s release For Lovers, Dreamers and Me, but this isn’t what intrigues us here at sotattoed.com. The phenomenon that gives us cause to gravitate toward Audrey is the tattoo craze that has followed her art career. Her art has become the object of desire for tattoo fans and taken the industry by storm! Rarely have I seen an artist so emulated. I can think of nothing more flattering for an artist than to have their artwork grace the skin of those who appreciate it for the rest of their life. What follows is a collection of photos of her work and the tattoos that emulate it.

One of the most unsettling aspects of the art industry for Audrey is what she refers to as “Flippers”; people who buy her artwork for the mere act of reselling it at a higher price. There is nothing worse than knowing that someone bought your artwork not because they were appreciative of it, but to make some coin, depriving a true fan of the possibility of owning the piece at a fair price.

When asked how she feels about seeing her work tattooed on people she replies “It’s beyond flattering that they would eternally engrave an image by me on their skin.” Well said, milady… Well said indeed.

http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com/