Discover the fantastical creations of the New York-based illustrator.
Eri Wakiyama is an artist who inhabits many worlds. Not only does she oscillate between the realms of fashion and art, but through her practice itself, she is constantly moving between fantasy and reality, evocative dreams and the hard task of trying to bring them to life.
The fantasy element first came into play during her childhood.
“I was a very, very shy child, and oftentimes drawing was my activity to go to in place of socializing,” she explains. “I read a lot of these Japanese comic books that my Dad would bring back from Japan. That style stayed with me. I started drawing groups of different characters, different girls, and it was a fantasy in a way, of the friendship group that I didn’t really have at the beginning of my life.”
But drawing wasn’t her only escape. As a child in California’s Bay Area, she was virtually alone in discovering a love of fashion. After stumbling upon a Japanese bookstore that stocked runway magazines during her middle school years, Wakiyama was exposed to the brilliant creativity of Commes des Garcons, Galliano for Dior, Alexander McQueen and more. She was captivated.
Photo credit: Anthony Gallery
“It wasn’t even particularly the fashion that intrigued me, but the fact it felt like these people were expressing themselves through the fantasy of fashion. No one else around me was interested in that, and I couldn’t express this secret love. To fit in, I wore what everyone else was wearing, but secretly I was creating all these fashion fantasies being worn by my characters.”
This fuelled a passion that drove Wakiyama to go to Parsons School of Design in New York, where she envisioned herself becoming a designer. But by the time she graduated, the recession had begun and there were no design jobs—but a new path was in store. While she fell into a career on the business side of fashion, Wakiyama was also nurturing a skill for fashion illustration that she had developed during her college years. As it turned out, it would be her first major personal and professional creative outlet. To date, Wakiyama has created signature pieces for major brands including Miu Miu, Supreme and Heaven by Marc Jacobs.
The characters, dynamic colors and imaginative scenarios form part of a singular style that Wakiyama has crafted in the development of her own personal art practice. At the heart of her works are the repeated characters, who she transports to worlds both real and imagined.
“When I’m drawing these characters, I don’t think I’m drawing myself, but everyone who knows me says it’s like me. I think it’s very hard to see yourself from the outside perspective, so she probably is an extension of me, even if I’m not doing it deliberately.
Photo credit: Anthony Gallery
For Wakiyama, these character-focused works have opened up incredible opportunities in the art world, including most recently a solo show at Anthony Gallery, titled This Is a Dream, Please Let Me Sleep. The title picks up one of Wakiyama’s most important sources of inspiration.
“Sometimes I have those revelations right after waking up, and sometimes there are those dreams that stick in your mind for a while, but there are also those dreams that escape almost immediately, and you wish you could bring them back. With those ones, I try to grab a notebook and get them down as quickly as I can, but other times they come back as a deja vu moment.”
Wakiyama notes that even through her nightmares she’s “able to draw some good things,” adding that her art allows her to process things that may be stressful or even traumatizing.
“I grew up in a culture where you’re not allowed to express sadness, or you seem very weak, so the act of drawing and getting it out of my system is a relief. Exercise has also been a really big part of my life. In California, the outdoors was so second nature, and I’ve been running since I was really young. It was my form of meditation, besides my art.”
Photo credit: Anthony Gallery
But while art may be a form of meditation for the artist, she’s by no means resting on her laurels. Instead, she’s continually interested in exploring her edge.
“In any situation, I think that if you’re feeling too comfortable, it’s a sign that things need to change. We always need to be evolving, and as an artist that’s particularly important.”
As Wakiyama continues to explore new approaches, mediums and projects, one thing will remain constant—her boundless imagination.
“Reality is going to always have so many downsides. We always have to face things we don’t like and situations we don’t want to be in. Living in a different world is enticing to me, especially given the current state of things. The grass is always greener on the other side and it’s the impossible, unhuman things that my mind always goes to.”