WASHINGTON, DC.- Touchstone Gallery presents Journey to Yuki’s World by Japanese artist Yuki Hiyama. The exhibit will present a wide variety of paintings from Yuki’s recent and past works. This is her first Washington, DC, gallery exhibition and her second exhibition in the United States, having exhibited in New York.

French painter Jean Dubuffet coined the term “art brut,” or “raw art,” which he characterized as follows: “Those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses — where the worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion do not interfere — are, because of these very facts, more precious than the productions of professionals.” 1 Ms. Yuki Hiyama’s work embodies the essence of raw art.

Ms. Hiyama was born on December 17, 1977. Due to a difficult birth, she suffered a brain injury. In her childhood, she discovered painting as a way to communicate in place of verbal expression. She has continued ever since. Her paintings are full of color and texture. She paints with pleasure and it transfers to all who see her work.

Ms. Hiyama employs a variety of media, including oil, acrylic, watercolor and gouache; pen, pencil and colored pencil; oil stick, pastel and even sand. Her gestural strokes range from frenetic to languid, sometimes coalescing into Hiragana characters, Kanji characters, what looks like bodies and faces and also numerals. Some of the techniques she uses include paper-folding, stamping and pouring.

This exhibition will present an opportunity to look inside Yuki’s world.

A percentage of the sale proceeds will go to the YUKIEN SCHOOL for children with disabilities in Hiroshima, Japan.

1 Jean Dubuffet, “Place à l'incivisme [Make way for Incivism],” translated by Chantal Khan Malek and Allen S. Weiss, Art and Text, no. 27 (December 1987–February 1988): 36.