Artist Misaki Kawai expresses her love of fluffy and wobbly things

Misaki Kawai is a Japanese artist whose colourful paintings and sculptures are so sweet they’ve captured the world. Born in Kagawa, the artist now lives and works in Osaka when she isn’t traveling around the world sharing her works. Exhibiting from Helsinki to New York, the artist delivers bags of fun through her humorous work which always captures a sense of comedy in its characters. Whether it be a painting of a cat, or a dog-shaped sofa covered in yellow fur, Misaki’s work never fails to charm and delight its audience.

Her recent solo exhibition titled Fluffy Days, toured Seoul’s Avenuel Art Hall and Busan’s Lotte Gallery this year. Each piece embodies an individual sense of character, even the simple line drawings that consist of two dots and a mouth communicate the undeniably strong quirks of the artist.

The title of the exhibition very much says what it is on the tin. The depiction of fluffy things is a predominant theme throughout the work, but not in a twee nor cutesy way. For example, paintings of fluffy dogs, a fluffy bear driving a van for the “fuzzy club”, a fluffy cloud with a sad face, all bring amusement through Misaki’s idiosyncratic style.

When in conversation with Misaki, the fluff-mania continues. Although there is a language barrier within our conversation, below Misaki describes her style and interests, evidently expressed in a similarly comedic style: 

It’s Nice That: What are the themes behind your solo show, Fluffy Days?

Misaki Kawai: To have some fluffy stuff in real life. Fluffy pet, fluffy tunes, fluffy buns, fluffy friends… etc

INT: How would you describe your practice at the moment?

MK: As wobbly as possible, wobbly line, wobbly hand, wobbly brain.

INT: Please can you talk about one of your favourite pieces in the show and why it’s meaningful to you?

MK: I like poofy hairs.

INT: Who or what is inspiring you at the moment?

MK: Fluffy bunny and fluffy kitty.

INT: Do you have any particularly exciting projects coming up?

MK: Now I am preparing for solo show in NYC at The Hole, opening 11 October. I made paintings on the grass in Vermont using river water, featuring a bear and moose.