Yuko Yabuki, “Duality”

by Lynn Trimble

Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, Arizona

Continuing through December 14, 2025

Yuko Yabuki, “Beast,” 2019, mixed media on paper, 62 x 52”. All images courtesy of Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum.

Imagine a cosmos swirling in dualities, where the interplay of opposing forces creates a constant state of personal, ecological, and metaphysical balance. That’s the expansive, ever-changing reality presented by Yuko Yabuki, an Arizona-based artist born and raised in Japan, where her initial creative forays focused on graphic design and fashion. Having shifted from commercial endeavors to exploring spiritual realms, Yabuki has spent more than two decades blending the visual culture and philosophies that undergird the dualities in her own experiences and creative expressions. In monumental paintings and smaller works in various media, the artist sets a cosmic stage with a cast of mythological characters. With her futuristic humanoids, commanding creatures, and potent natural forces from wind to water, Yabuki invites us to feel the energies within and between them, all interacting to shift our accustomed trajectories of time, space, and existence.

Yuko Yabuki, “Alchemy of the Universe,” 2025, acrylic paint on stretched canvas, 50 x 30 x 1.5”.

Seventeen of Yabuki’s works created between 2002 and 2025 comprise “Duality,” in which discrete segments are displayed in pairs. “Magician/Creator” and ”Beast/Destroyer” (2019), depict dragons embellished with blocks of gold leaf that signal the central role of this ontology. Ink drawings of dragons titled “Duality” (2019) are all black and white save for a single gold orb positioned near one of the dragon’s talons. These dragons, among other things, are a collision between the dramatic realism of Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and the modern-day pop culture phenomenon “Game of Thrones.” Between the flawless draftsmanship and implied narratives, Yabuki’s fantasy world draws us in as the show progresses.

Among the strongest works are “Alchemy of Universe” and “Movement of Energy” (both 2025), which are about monumental shifts in the global order and America’s own political landscape as well as the extreme ravages of climate catastrophe from wildfires to flooding. In the former, a small red salamander is positioned atop a tree-shaped form that is rooted in a red pool of fire. It’s all surrounded by a dark sky with columns of descending gold squares that transition into white tears or droplets of rain after passing through a white expanse of water or clouds. In the latter, a blue dragon is curved above the white expanse, and a red dragon is curved below it. Their tails are loosely intertwined to form the number eight, which can represent growth and the expansion of prosperity in Japanese culture. Blue and white diamonds in the upper part of the composition become white rain or teardrops below. With their delicate curved lines and bold colors having different meanings in various cultures, the imagery and its execution inspire us to imagine our own narratives. 

Yuko Yabuki, “Duality (Ink Beast),” 2019, ink on paper, 20 x 15 x 1”.

Beyond dragons — a mythological creature often associated with wisdom, strength, and protection in Japanese culture, but also commonly aligned with chaos or evil attributes such as greed or lust in Western culture — Yabuki’s cosmos includes an array of creatures that populate land, water, and sky. Octopi, jellyfish, cats, mice, pangolins, birds and other animals each carry their own symbology. It adds up to a meta-narrative of divergent forces working against or in tandem with one another to propel forward universal energies and the collective unconscious.

Yabuki renders fantastical humans as well, but here they are presented in smaller scale artworks. In that respect these humanoids actually counter the anthropomorphism common to Western ideologies. “Black Orchid” (2023) depicts a figure embracing a black swan surrounded by seven purple orchids and two green totems of stylized cactus. The image channels Yabuki’s identity as someone rooted in two cultures.

Yuko Yabuki, “Magician/Creator,” 2019, mixed media on paper, 53 x 64”.

Four of the larger works suggest an evolving cosmos that undergoes an infinite repetition of cycles rather than movement towards a terminal point in time. “World” (2003) is a dark, chaotic scene anchored by a black octopus with glowing yellow eyes surrounded by a miasma of red liquid. Below the octopus, an eye weeps. In one tentacle, the octopus appears to hold a yellow Manji, a common Buddhist symbol associated with peace, harmony, and good fortune, but more familiar to us as the Nazi swastika. The meanings could hardly be more different, but the recent history of the latter corrupts our perception of the former. Sea creatures in “Transition” and “New Beginning” (both 2012) are rendered with lighter colors and a delicate touch. For “Successor” (2025), an enormous eagle in flight holds a snake in its talons — the national symbol of Mexico — though it’s not clear which, if either, will prove triumphant.

Yuko Yabuki, “Love Warrior,” 2022, acrylic paint on wood-board, 30 x 24”.

Taken together, the paintings of “Duality” prompt reflection on climate crises and shifts in geopolitical power. Yabuki’s animal-based symbolic language includes an array of eyes, stars, teardrops, and a DNA helix covered in thorns. Gold tritons appear on the body of a jellyfish. Elsewhere, the Roman numeral “XV,” or 15, appears. As a whole the exhibition embodies Yabuki’s gradual construction of her own unique visual alchemy.

Beyond the intriguing nature of her iconography, there’s another compelling element that recommends this exhibition. The dragon scales, bird feathers, and snake skins are rendered in precise, meticulous detail that conveys a gentle strength and meditative quality. Throughout the exhibition, Yabuki’s disciplined line work is replete with movement that transmits the very energy she assigns to the cosmos and its inhabitants.

Although in Yabuki’s universe epic battles that threaten to undo the delicate balance of the cosmos are clearly underway, the artist’s style conveys a sense of optimism about their ultimate outcomes. In “Pangolin Forever” (2023), she paints the profile of a person holding a small anteater. The presence of this animal serves as a symbolic reminder that mass extinctions are not inevitable. In “Love Warrior” (2022), a figure with long red hair is surrounded by blue birds and monarch butterflies atop a unicorn poised to descend a stairway much like a warrior might storm a citadel. One imagines the artist herself assuming that role, using line, form, and color as her weapons of choice. But the presence of weapons and weaponized objects is not meant to advocate for violence and war. Rather, throughout her art, Yabuki works to move our vision of the cosmos towards harmony, balance, justice, and peace.

Lynn Trimble is a Phoenix-based art writer whose work ranges from arts reporting to arts criticism. During a freelance writing career spanning more than two decades, over 1,000 of her articles exploring arts and culture have been published in magazine, newspaper and online formats. Follow her work on Twitter @ArtMuser or Instagram @artmusingsaz.