Yuka Masuko’s improvised illustrations mingle medieval references with whimsical charm

People often tell Yuka Masuko that her illustrations have a distinctly dreamy atmosphere about them. She’s deduced it’s likely down to the influence of her grandparents, who were born in temples and shrines; her grandmother becoming a buddhist painter, and her grandfather reading “extensively about Yōkai and the afterlife”. “I grew up more interested in the invisible being than afraid of them,” Yuka says.

When it comes to the slightly disparate, pleasing hodge-podge mix of imagery and themes throughout Yuka’s work – from tennis players and ghouls, to relaxing mice and ornate pots – Yuka signals her globetrotting as an influence, having spent most of her childhood growing up in Japan, before spending ten years in Germany, France and the UK, now based back in Berlin. “Because of this, my everyday conversations and thoughts are a mix of multiple languages and untranslated vague images,” she says. Yuka likes to use “ordinary” everyday images (depicting houses, pets, sports) but in an unexpected setting, “arranging these motifs on a flat surface, within an imaginary environment” and playing with composition and surreal details. 

Her works are often improvised, using intuitively chosen shapes and colours, and she works with a mix of graphic markers, acrylic paint and ink, the analogue method suiting her intuitive approach much better. “I love how colour melts into rough paper and how viewers can track my improvisational thoughts through my hand-drawn lines.” Broadly, Yuka often sources inspiration from illustrated medieval books and works on old architecture and interior design, though recently she’s found herself particularly drawn to candles, their dancing shapes and flickering flames.