Compositions like “picnic” and “where should i go?” demonstrate her skills in fashion and textiles. The butterflies in flight and beautifully patterned dresses in “it goes up the mountain…” juxtapose the softness of her painting technique. In Naomi’s work she portrays a complicated sense of self in the underlying harems of the faceless girls which also seems to resemble a softer version of the movie character Sadako from The Ring.
The vibrant colors used are similar to that of Lisa Frank’s pallette which add to the Feminine undercurrent of her paintings that include jutting mountain peaks, evergreen trees, and gallant blades of grass. Although the women in her paintings feel decorative, the figures continue to withhold themselves from the viewer. The observer becomes the women with the turned away faces, trapped in a maze of patterned fabrics, blankets, dresses, mountains, and overgrown houseplants. The feeling you receive is something pleasant and festive, yet also unnerving in the the claustrophobic lushness of Naomi Okubo’s paintings.
Naomi Okubo’s works are represented by the Gallery Momo and Gallery Momo Ryogoku in Tokyo Japan.