The deeply romantic and dark affection seen in Aya Kato’s illustrations have surfaced on the screens of media players, laptops, and mobile phones with quite a mysterious aura. Which made us wonder just what would lie behind those layers? PingMag wanted to find out more about this 26-year-old from Aichi and her closest friend, the darkness. And how Paul Coelho changed her life forever.
Written by Verena
Translated by Natsumi Yamane
Looking at your illustrations, the first questions that comes to mind is: What does romance mean for you?
It’s the moment when you find your true hope or treasure, the moment when you converse with your own heart, the moment your heart shines… The object of such moments can be anything from people, things that were made by people, nature, earth, galaxy, universe to extraterrestrial beings. Romance for me is to feel the spirit of love for such things.
Wow, you’re kind of spiritual… Do you paint your dreams or daydreams?
Yes, and that in my eyes is the world of reality — the surreal world that I see is full of magical moments. I believe that the truth is hidden in people’s dreams and fantasies.
When do these images come to your mind?
The moment I wake up in the morning, just before I fall asleep and in the dreams. When I have a memorable dream, I try to write a diary, a simple one with illustrations. I tend to get more ideas while I’m driving or having a bath too. Also, I get images from weird wood grains and combinations of words in a book that I might be reading at the time can give me inspirations too. There are small hints and clues in all areas of our day-to-day lives and I intuitively get images when those hints resonate while I’m relaxing.
Also, is there one remarkable vision or incident you tried to paint from your imagination?
Yes, I tried to paint this world with beautiful islands floating in a striking blue ocean that I journeyed in my dream a little while ago. The buildings were made from materials like crystals that shimmered in the light and you could instantly tell that it was a world full of joy and happiness, where magic and science existed in harmony. It was probably the most beautiful world that I’ve ever seen in my dreams. I can never forget the colours so I hope I can paint it soon while I still have clear memories about it.
What a beautiful image! You wonderfully combine Japanese traditional motifs with Western influences, such as Art Deco. What else inspires you?
The unique figurative art – or you might even call it a rhythm – of human bodies drawn by Hokusai, his spatial and overall balance, the rhythm in his use of colours… My mind has always been focusing on composition so that might be the reason why I love him so much. My Western aesthetics probably come from European fairy tales. I also love the streamline beauty of natural objects drawn by Arthur Rackham.
I think I’ve taken in the spacing of the works from Japanese art and the flow from the Western works…
Interesting combination! And although your illustrations have a beautifully romantic and dark atmosphere, there also seems to be some kind of mysticism lying underneath… Are you a believer…?
Yes, I wholeheartedly believe in that world. I love both the light and the dark so I play with both of them and aim to express the realms in my heart with the colours and the shapes as they are, because to be honest with my heart at all times is the goal in my life.
When I’m feeling gloomy, then my illustrations will also be gloomy. But, then, I put in a lot of affection! At a time when I was only drawing gloomy pictures, I was surprised to find so much darkness within myself! But it’s one of my closest friends now. When I’m deeply in love, I draw a lot of lovers and when I’m full of love for the earth, it starts appearing in all my pictures. Now, I’m into the universe, so my illustrations are all about that.
What kind of books or manga did you like to read as kid?
I used to love books on UFOs and planets and used to look for them in libraries all the time. I simply had to know if extraterrestrial beings existed or not. I also remember reading a lot about pyramids and the lost continent of Mu. That was in my early years at elementary school.
My favourite manga was the cartoon version of Doraemon. As a kid, I preferred animations to manga and I used to watch anime such as World Masterpiece Theatre, Dragon Ball, Ninja Hattori-kun, Paman. I grew up with the works of Fujiko F. Fujio.
And what do you like to read for inspiration today?
My favourite author is Paulo Coelho, who gave me the big chance to start walking toward my dreams. When I encountered his novels, I discovered my true self: I just wanted to draw pictures, all day long. I quit my old job one week after I finished reading By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept and put everything into painting. This and The Alchemist are the treasures of my life!
That was life-changing, indeed! You did a series on women who embody Japanese cities. Tell us more about that, please!
The women in that series are the incarnations of the mother earth. They lived in various ages of Japan and all had different ideals and roles. My image for each of the cities was the woman who carves out a new era as the “Goddess of Destruction,” the woman who creates the new flow of the times as the “Goddess of Regeneration” and the woman who never gives up hope for a brighter future as the “Goddess of Protection.” They are also the guardian goddesses of these places. I believe that now is the time to bring their (feminine) mentality to our attention. So I summoned them today, hoping it would make our connections with the earth stronger.
I really respect the women who supported society from behind the scenes. I also have a great sense of fascination and anticipation on female creativity, which is a love that gives life to things and embraces everything. These also represent my ideal image of a woman too.
We see. And also, your animation for the Hitachi promotion from last year really looks kind of spiritual! What’s the story behind it?
The story in general is about a static realm filled with “nightmares.” But a mystical animal called baku appears and devours all the nightmares and transforms them into “beautiful dreams” to create a world of harmony.
For this, I wanted to express a world that transcended time. The seven realms that appear in this animation all come from different periods in Japan, namely Yayoi, Heian, Sengoku, Edo, Meiji, Showa, and now. Each period exists parallel to the other and people journey between them. So it’s a realm where past, present and the future exist simultaneously.
At the core is the present world and the higher it gets, it approaches the future world that everyone is hoping for. The present world gives life to the tree of universe, and every existence spirals up toward the space in a gentle breeze of blessings from the universe. And eventually, everything merges together and bears the fruit of the universe.
Also, the image of the male and female baku finding and overlapping each other symbolises the fusion of the ultimate bipolarities of this world.
One of your latest works is the book cover for “Girlwood” by author Claire Dean: very bright and golden flower themes. If you compare them to your older works, you feel the slight absence of morbidity that seemed to be so present in your earlier illustrations. What happened?
Before, I always wanted to draw the world of shadows and darkness because I was simply fascinated by the allure and the power of the black colour. And at the time, I wasn’t yet fully aware of what my true wishes were. Also back then, I was working during the day as a graphic designer and sedulously drew my own works in the evening so that’s perhaps another reason why my earlier works look so morbid.
But after I quit my job to do only painting, my attention began to focus on light and I started using many different colours. At the same time, I became aware of the spiritual worlds and drew from my childhood memories when I was fascinated by the universe and the sky. Eventually, I realised that I had always loved the fantasy world. I purely loved the beautiful landscapes and the realms full of vivid colours so I started drawing them as they are in my works.
I was able to start using many colours as my memories returned. And as I finished each work, I gradually began to better balance the light and the dark. Now, I can play well with both of them.
For Valentine’s Day, you designed a the packaging for Saganoaya in 2007 and 2008: Could you explain the concept of the pattern and the design made especially for lovers…
Saganoaya is a chocolate brand that represents the world in The Tale of Genji, which was written exactly one thousand years ago in 1008 and is said to be the world’s first ever romance novel. In this work, I doubled the lovers from the novel and present day lovers in my colour expression and the shapes of love that transcends time.
Saganoaya lays a lot of emphasis on hues and in 2007, my design was based on the theme of “beautifully decorating the stars.” I portrayed a world where lovers shared a planet each and when the two people find each other, they would return to their universe where they originally come from and beautifully transform the universe by filling each star with flowers of their memories.
For 2008, I expressed another world based on the theme of “adorning myself with beauty,” where the like-minded would shine and radiate more and more through their love experiences. Here, I tried to show that people’s most radiant moment is when they combine and merge everything in their different pasts. This came to me after wondering what the colour of my aura is.
You can get to know yourself better through one-to-one affection and you can love yourself more by loving the person who gives you affection. And when you love yourself, then you can love every existence. And when you love everything, you can wholeheartedly feel that you are being loved by everything. Love is just a starting point for a much bigger affection and I’ve drawn these chocolate related works with this in mind.
Thank you, Aya, you gave us quite an insight in your spiritual world! And thank you for your mystic imagery!
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Really, really nice works!!
I love them all. I ´m not such a Paulo Coelho´s fan, but I am glad he inspired this artist.
Congratulations!
Posted by: Flavio Hebaru on October 3rd, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Agreed. Very nice drawings, but Paulo Coelho is just really cheap “life wisdom” - one of the most overrated authors ever.
Posted by: William on October 3rd, 2008 at 8:24 pm
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Truly beautiful. Always been a fan of Aya Kato. Good article Pingmag!
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[...] Go to the author’s original blog: Aya Kato: Mystic Realms On Your iPhone [...]
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[...] Verena added an interesting post today on Aya Kato: Mystic Realms On Your iPhoneHere’s a small readingThe deeply romantic and dark affection seen in Aya Kato’s illustrations have surfaced on the screens of media players, laptops, and mobile phones with quite a mysterious aura. Which made us wonder just what would lie behind those layers … [...]
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I’ve also been a fan of Aya Kato’s works for æons! thanks Pingmag for the lovely insightful interview! :D
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