Yuko Shimizu creates her own visual genre by depicting intimate narrative scenes from mythology, science fiction, and popular imagery.
Yuko Shimizu is a New York-based illustrator whose bold comic lines depict intimate narrative scenes from mythology, science fiction, and popular imagery, creating her own visual genre. “When people see my work, they think I read a lot of manga, but the last manga I bought and read (and still consider it a masterpiece) was probably Akira,” Shimizu said in an interview.
Her work has been in circulation for 15 years, so if it sounds familiar to you, you’ve probably seen her T-shirt designs on models in Gap stores, on Pepsi cans, or in ads for Apple, Nike, and Target. Her work has been published in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, and DC Comics.
A recent piece from 2020, part of the Unity Project, an initiative of the Norman Rockwell Museum to inspire American voters, depicts a woman wearing an American flag and wearing the Statue of Liberty crown in an action pose. On her right forearm, there’s a tattoo of an eagle with “USA” tattooed where her mother would be, pointing toward the character’s flaming fist, reaching toward the viewer. The yellow background adds color along with the other primary colors that dominate the scene. The sublime imagery increases the impact of the message behind each Easter egg image throughout the poster.
“[Growing up]I drew copycat comics and anime, and for a long time (until I realized I didn’t really want to create my own stories) I wanted to be a mangaka. I love Hagio Gen, Matsumoto Reiji, and Yoshida Akimi. Currently, I’m really into art in a completely different field than my own. I love and am inspired by Wong Kar-Wai’s Hong Kong films, John Woo’s early work, Jean Paul’s fashion design and vision. Gaultier, Murakami Haruki, and Eka Kurniawan’s novels, they took me on a journey I didn’t know I wanted to embark on.”
