Yuri Shimmyo: Playful Observer The first interview in a three-part series talking with Japanese-born artists based in Sydney, Australia
Lisa Pang: I first met Yuri Shimmyo a few years ago, when a mutual artist friend invited me to an exhibition opening in Sydney’s St Leonards neighbourhood. In that busy, warm, overcrowded gallery, I was captivated by one of Yuri’s etchings – for the skill of the drawing, the rendition of light, and the simplicity of black ink on white paper, but mainly for the mystery it contained. I bought it. Called Monk fish, it shows a woman concentrating on sewing what appears to be a large flat fish on her lap. I find it delightful for its sense of humour and whimsy. I met Yuri in person later to collect the work. Yuri works as a printmaker and a painter, finding time for her practice around her other roles as a mother, an office worker, and a guitar student. On the day in October I spoke with her in an online chat, she was in her home studio surrounded by her current paintings, many of them in shades of green. When I recall her face, I don’t remember what she was wearing, but I picture her as a calm space in a meadow of finely detailed plants.
Yuri Shimmyo, ‘Anonymous’ 2021, oil on canvas, 2021, 78 x 101 cm All images courtesy the artist