Another studio I visited in Redhook, Brooklyn back in January is, by necessity, suddenly vacant. Japanese-born artist Hiroya Kurata left the city with his family, and since then, has been working from the temporary family home in Florida. Let’s check in and see how he’s faring.
"I still have mixed feelings about leaving New York during this disaster, but I tell myself, family security first," Kurata acknowledges about this choice to move. Before Covid 19 arrived in New York, the December 2013 featured artist would stop by several times a week to engage in his love for painting and image-making. "I've had to go into my studio a few times after that to run some errands. but didn't feel like spending much time there in a time like this."
Kurata, who received a BFA from the Parsons School of Design, clearly draws on the muscle memory of Japanese landscape, which permeates his plant and flower-filled paintings, although his first forays portrayed baseball and pin-up imagery. What hasn’t changed is his ability to capture movement and the mood of colors in a style influenced by graphic novels and animation. Whether a player at bat, a child running free or a woman driving, he’s able to bestow each character with an identifiable, palpable emotion.
"The closure of NYC public schools started on March 15th, so we started homeschooling our 5-year-old around that time," the artist relates about adapting to the new way of life. "It was also the same day my day job as an art conservator stopped." The artist experimented with bringing his son to the studio, a trial run that but that turned into a failed adventure. "I've always wanted to take my son to my studio, so I thought it was great timing as he had never spent more than a few minutes in my studio up till that point. We had some fun, but we ended up watching YouTube after a few hours and he told me he would rather stay home, which was a smarter choice."
"After a conversation with a few people, we decided to drive south to Florida where my parents had an empty house. We had to think twice about the move, but the thought of the four of us spending another few weeks or months in our tiny 1 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn was scary, when, after all, we did have a place to go. Also, there was no extra room for us to self isolate ourselves from each other in the worst-case scenario. So we drove down to Florida at the end of March, having cup noodles for dinner in a motel on the way there."
"We are still under self-quarantine here in Florida. Watching and hearing the news every day gives me anxiety about what's coming next, but trying to keep myself busy to be a little optimistic during these uncertain times. I've brought some of my art materials so I’m keeping myself busy."
NYC studio photos and text compiled by Sasha Bogojev
