The Art of Sushi and Sake
ECHIKO OHIRA - Artist of Thoughtful Elegance

By Nancy Uyemura

Simple and deep, Echiko Ohira’s work is like a Haiku poem, succinct and to the point, appreciated by those with a sensitive eye and an understanding of fine art.  Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Echiko is the daughter of a well-known architect.  She graduated from Musashino Art University in 1972 and after marrying sculptor Minoru Ohira, she and Minoru moved to Mexico to live and experience the art and architecture there.  It was here, in Mexico, that she first experienced extreme poverty juxtaposed with extreme wealth.  This split made such an impression on her that it created a profound sympathy for the less fortunate.  It compelled her to save materials usually thrown away and use them in creating her art.  She identified with those who wasted nothing, those who compressed what they could into tiny spaces, binding things together to form a home and a life.  It is really this essence that still permeates her work even today.

Echiko Ohira’s assemblages, collages and large-scale constructions transform the objects of everyday life, such as brown paper bags, nails, wire, cardboard, string, thread, bits of stained paper and pencil marks into extraordinary statements of emotion and beauty.  Her collages are intimate and translate as a visual diary of the miraculous and the painfulness of the mundane found in everyday life.  The collages act as a journal where one might record the passing of days as the changing of moods, recording the most intimate details of a sensitive life passage.  The viewer is privileged to share in the secret passages of her life.  Echiko began creating collages daily after her father’s death and writes that they are “traces of the now and the time that has passed away…intuitive traces of my thoughts, feelings and emotions.”  It is the memory of life that she translates into material – the material of the everyday…paper, thread, glue, pencil and the colors symbolic of blood and skin, which is evident in her palette.  This palette of hers is mostly monochromatic and is reminiscent of nature and the effects of time on man and material.  It records an inner landscape and weathered changes that come with time and life experience.  To experience Echiko’s work is to truly take a journey into time and life, both her impressions and expressions that ultimately lead you into your own.

It is truly a memorable trip that I hope everyone will be able to take.

In ways that are wistful and poetic Echiko Ohira combines the Japanese precision of form and attention to detail with a rawness more commonly associated with Mexican and American contemporary art.  It is this combining of cultures and aesthetics that give an added depth and sensitivity to Ohira’s work.  She embraced both the environments and the cultures of the two countries she chose to live in after leaving her homeland, Japan.  So it seems that Los Angeles is the best of all places for her to settle as it embraces the cultures that permeate her work and life.  She lives in Pasadena and has a studio in San Gabriel.  The discipline that is obvious in her work is a reflection of her discipline in life.  Each object, each movement, has a meaning and a purpose and there is little waste in her life.  We would all do well to observe and appreciate the ‘Zen’ quality of Ohira and her art.

Echiko has shown her work both in America and in Asia and is currently showing at Pounder Kone Art Space in Atwater Village.  This group show is up until the end of July.  It is located at 3407 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039, 323  913-2247.

Echiko’s work is also on display at KODA Sushi, restaurant and sushi bar in Silverlake.  KODA is located at 3719 Sunset Blvd., Silverlake, CA 90026.  Tel: (323) 663-1048.  It is open from 5-11 PM Tuesday through Sunday.  So you can have your sushi and sake to while feasting on elegant art. 

I hope that you will be able to experience some of the work of Echiko Ohira, it is truly eloquent, thoughtful and unforgettable.

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