The "superflat" Art of Yumiko Kayukawa

"[Her] contribution to Superflat conveys more of the feminine. ... She focuses on the young Japanese woman. This is not the SHOJO in the likes of "Sailor Moon", but the culture whose female population is ever increasing in status and power. ... She renders her characters with freedom and self-determination... Yumiko doesn't go flat like an open bottle of pop art; it's more super than anything else....a good sample of the current output of what Superflat is all about."
Tom Brierly August 16, 2001

"the kind of candy-colored Japanese-themed art so many locals love"
Leah Greenblat July 12, 2002

"ultra-hip works..."
July 12, 2001

March 1, 2002

"Her nods to tradition include the integration of calligraphy, free-floating flowers, bubbles, stars, and insects in the work's composition, as well as the sometimes impossibly positioned bodies (much like Shunga, the erotic prints). Her flat, bright style and gorgeous, stylish girls are like advertisements for fun, as impossible as fashion magazine scenarios but equally as desirable. But the impossibility is acknowledged in Kayukawa's world, where calligraphy drips with honey and girls are caught in spider webs. ... [They] use the elements of good design to full effect, where the illogical flowers and butterflies and rabbits don't read as symbols or icons, but as part of a visual system. ... [They] don't appeal to your logic, but rather to your desire. Like a perfectly designed ad, they might very well make you want something; doubtless the "something" is ineffable, intangible, and nothing the artist wants to sell."
Emily Hall August 8, 2001