Asobi No Tochu, cotton cloth, glue, pigments, gum arabic, ink, lapis lazuli

Japanese artist Goto Atsuko creates delicately detailed illustrative paintings, often featuring somber-looking female faces. Using a pale, desaturated color scheme and great attention to fine details, the artist builds up cold, ethereal beauty.

Dream Monster V, cotton cloth, glue, pigments, gum arabic, ink, lapis lazuli

Atsuko uses an interesting range of media to create these works. Cotton cloth forms the base while glue, pigments and inks are built up over top, lending to the slightly ghostly, translucent appearance of the figures. I really love the way that Atsuko’s faces seem to peek out from lush thickets of foliage – sometimes flower petals or even butterflies act as a veil, concealing any other elements of the figure. These dense backgrounds remind of the work of Hannah Yata. 

Looking at these works up close, it’s incredible especially to see how the artist renders eyes – each eyelash is painted individually, while highlights and a slight red tint surrounding the eye makes these figures seem warm and alive, if imbued with a certain sadness. 

Tag, cotton cloth, glue, pigments, gum arabic, ink, lapis lazuli