Artist: Jean Iwohara
Exhibition: glass eyes
Media: Clay, Oil,
Gallery: CSULB Dr. Maxine Merlino Gallery
Website: jeaniwohara.weebly.com
Email: jeaniwohara@gmail.com
Instagram: @jelly.jean
Jean Iwohara is an undergraduate student at California State University Long Beach who is working towards her illustration BFA degree. Iwohara mainly works with watercolor and gouache. According to her website, her aim is to “create a sense of wonder and fantastical narratives” through her art.
I will be discussing one of my favorite works from her exhibition, “will you really save me?”.
At a glance, the oil painting generally follows a muted, pastel color scheme. The objects look smooth to the touch with jagged edges. A girl sits upon a cloud throne of sorts with her hair following the contour of it. A multitude of arms (presumably hers) grasp onto her desperately, coweringly. Chains hold up her cloud throne, ascending into the sky and fading away.
The painting overall feels lonely and forbidden. When I look at it, I feel like I’m looking at someone I shouldn’t be looking at. I shouldn’t know of her existence and turn away. At the same time however, I’m filled with guilt to not acknowledge her.
The theme for “glass eyes” was anxiety and the external and internal forces produce it. She came up with this theme while talking to her partner, Chanmealea Huy, as they were collaborating together for this show. They wanted something broad and personal that she and her partner could work on. They were also looking for something that viewers could relate to as well as physically move them, and anxiety fit the agenda.
Fun tidbits:
Jean was very proud of her piece “dance with me” as it had technical difficulties. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of it.
As stated earlier, Jean typically works with watercolor and gouache. However for this gallery, she decided to make two oil paintings. Jean chose oil paints to not only get better at them, but to also make aesthetic blends/gradients for her pieces.
Jean also likes polymeric clay as it doesn’t dry till it bakes, giving her time to perfect and add on to her sculpture.
The “glass eye” exhibition resonated in me. Although the theme was anxiety, everything was pastel and cutesy, as if to disguise the feeling. I feel that we often do that these days. We sugarcoat our feelings to not worry others or seem “weird”, but upon closer inspection it’s apparent things aren’t right. I would definitely recommend to others to check “glass eyes” out.
-Rosa Eap 🙂
Rosa Eap's Blog :) 