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​Born in NY in 1965 and reared amongst the lush greenery in the outskirts of Tokyo from age 3, Erika Mizukami was fond of drawing pictures of flowers and insects, which were a recurring theme in her earliest work.

Since having started playing the piano at age 6, before she knew it, the beautiful melodies and liveliness of musical compositions transformed into a colorful and graceful curve of imagination, enriching the dimensions of her heart.

According to Mizukami, music brought about her own safe, secret sanctum where she could enjoy images of light.

While she was in London to study piano in the 90s, she found herself influenced by the street artists who freely and individualistically expressed themselves. Meanwhile, she began to feel trapped and she was questioning her own creative capacity.

She began living in NY in 2005, and in 2007, an encounter with the world of self-hypnosis freed her from her fear of expressing herself. After that, every evening for several months she had mysterious experiences of kaleidoscopic visions of light. Mizukami says of these experiences, “I completely understood my surroundings, but I became totally detached from all feeling and thought. It was a supernatural experience of just accepting things as they are.”

 

One day, she felt confident that other people could also appreciate these scenes and have the same liberating experience. She then begins to create her artwork.

The theme of the artwork done in the method of scratch drawing learned in kindergarten is a cosmic panorama that is intricately interwoven.

These works are not reproductions of the images of light that are envisioned, but rather they are created without any initial structural outline. Since she is completely entrusting in her hands how the piece will turn out, it is a real pleasure for her to not know how the artwork will look, or when it will be finished.

Recently, she has been creating illustrations embodying childlike themes of purity and innocence.

According to Mizukami, “I am elated to have the opportunity to meet the people who look closely at my artwork and to encounter new ideas and progress. The entire process of creating from beginning to end is a gift.”

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