Omi Kurihara
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I’m a translator of feeling and strength, in whatever medium I find available to me. ”
Sometimes I express myself with a ballpoint pen, brush and ink, gouache paints, or colored pencils. Impulsively creative and empathetic to a T, I’m mostly a tattoo flash illustrator. I work with clients who want specific work done in American and Japanese traditional tattoo styles, and imbue classic themes with my own funky flares. Relating to people and helping individuals make artistic commitments is an incredible form of communication - weighted heavily with mutual respect and trust.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
My journey in terms of my initial interest in art as a child is as old as time, extremely played out. I drew whenever I could, as a shy kid raised in the boogie down Bronx. I found it hard to express myself socially, and opted for the passive but lasting expression illustration allowed me.
16 is when I began taking myself seriously, forcefully becoming emotionally and financially dependent on my art. I found a way to keep myself afloat while homeless for a few years designing tattoos, charging for stick and pokes, creating legal (and illegal) graffiti murals around the city, and commissioning illustrations for album covers. Art was my float, and idleness was a definite sink. I spent years finding my artistic voice under an array of pseudonyms, pounding the pavement and making it work, eventually landing a spot on some of my good friend’s underground galleries.
I found myself tattooing at parties for artist’s I’ve created album covers for and really marketing, but all underground, and under the guise of my overinflated pseudo identities. Once the pandemic hit, I found my own voice as Omi Kurihara while using my art as a vehicle to raise awareness for illegal evictions in the city during the George Floyd riots. I illustrated posters, stickers, and organized a community led rent strike in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn. I hoped for the bug to catch, and my sentiments of community protest to spread.
I eventually moved down South to escape the city. Currently working on more tattoo commissions, and developing prints of my paintings.
How do you stand out in your field?
My infusion of traditional tattooing art styles, classical Edo Period imagery, and my gritty, city based background makes for a particularly unique creation. I love to find the intriguing middleground between delicate depictions of fables, nature, and feminine rage.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
I’m working on a few things!
Firstly, a traditional Japanese back piece series, all life sized and drawn with brush and ink.
Fully illustrated, 14 page zine on my experience living off the grid with no electricity, running water or heat. All done in gouache paint.
A few commissioned canvas recreations of earlier paintings for clients
And finally I’ve recently started working on textile arts with a loom! I have always been a knitter, but I am experimenting with combining the two mediums to make...tattoo tapestries?
WHAT'S YOUR STYLE/PERSPECTIVE/TASTE? DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT THAT REPRESENTS THIS?
My taste is very eclectic, it’s hard for me to pinpoint a specific aesthetic! I’d say concepts I’m constantly inspired by would be Edo Period paintings, Ukrainian textiles, b-boys, fem punk, Edwardian seam stressing details, and 80’s NYC queer club scenes! I grew up a punk girl in b-boy, Soulja Boy era Bronx, and my taste became an amalgamation of the two.
Later on, as I became acquainted with my estranged family in Taiwan, I learned I was a first generation Taiwanese American, and became very inspired by Asian depictions of war, women, and tattooing. My deep dive into ancient styles of artistic expression either completely or almost lost to time, sparked another interest in art preservation. I like to carry these themes in my old school/new school fusions, telling modern stories by traditional means.
My tattoo series definitely reflects my interest in my asian culture, and my “noir” sharpie series reflect my interests in underground, queer scenes for sure.
WE ARE ALL SLASHIES WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS, WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE OFTEN?
I really wish I could commit more time to textile work! I haven’t created enough finished pieces to feel confident selling any textile creations yet. I’ve been devoting so much time to commissions and my personal giant art pieces, that it’s hard to find time in between work and play to...work play?
WHAT IS FRUSTRATING YOU RIGHT NOW?
Life is incredible and insane! As much as I want to devote all of my time to creation, our amazing guard dog just had 8 puppies! Adding up to a whopping total of 10 dogs, including papa dog. It’s overwhelming, endearing, time consuming, and fulfilling, but frustrating to work around. I cannot tell you how many finished pieces I’ve had chewed up before I learned a few very hard lesions. Oh, and I detangle my yarn daily.
IF YOU COULD HIRE SOMEONE FOR $20/HR, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE THEM DO TO MAKE YOUR DAY EASIER?
Definitely accounting. Numbers have never been my strong suit, though I put up a valiant effort!
I would also love help organizing my creative spaces, I’m a tornado and a half! A productive tornado nonetheless. I will not even describe the kitchen after I cook a meal.
LET'S BRING OUT THE TIME MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE TOLD YOURSELF, WHEN, AND WHY?
I wish I could’ve given myself advice I’ve actually gotten already, just way, way sooner. Art is the birthing of your ideas in whatever form you choose - creating something where nothing had existed before is a superpower!
At the beginning of my art career in the midst of homelessness and underground marketing, I found myself very productive but very insecure. Yes, I loved the art I created, but who was I without a classical training background? How could I “break the rules” creating whatever I wanted without learning the basic hallmarks for a “GOOD” artist - realism, portraits, landscapes, and the like? I spent a lot of time committing myself to art that diversified my portfolio, but not creating art I was really passionate about, to develop my own style.
I expressed these insecurities to a friend, my amazing Russian warrior of a dancer Kat, while knee deep in personal projects I didn’t care about. She pointed to a tree and said: “You could draw that tree, easily. But look at it, It already exists. The creator is finished, we are only spectators. The creator wields the power to create and destroy, and you hold that power with only a pen and paper.”
Her words completely changed my perception of the art I created. I don’t regret the time I took to “classically train” myself, but the confidence I’ve carried in my work since then has translated tenfold, and I am in complete awe of creation. Artists are creators, Gods of their own work! We are superheroes.
IF YOU COULD TALK TO AN EXPERT TO GAIN MORE INSIGHT ON SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
I’d love to learn more about historic archival work, specifically in ancient Africa and Asia! The two oldest populated lands in the world.
What is there yet to know? What historical secrets have been lost to time? Tell me some insane stories along the Silk Road! European sieges, and native uprisings! Ancient cities lined with gold...the future utopias that existed centuries ago. I love humanizing history, and watching the repetition of time. We rise and fall, over and over, but the golden eras before the eventual demise is what interests me.
WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITIES/PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
I’m looking for creative collaborations in familiar or new mediums! I’m always open to commission work of all forms, whether it be album covers, zine pages, stickers, you name it. Whatever you love me or need me for, I am here to wholeheartedly deliver.
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL JOB/CLIENT/COLLABORATION.
I would love to contribute to an art collective, a collaboration on a zine, or translate my art onto mediums I’ve never used before! Postcards? Illustrations for editorials? I’ve had the most fun collaborating with fellow artists, and communicating on a design fitting a general theme. I call myself an interpreter because that's what I consider my work to be! An interpretation of either my ideas, your ideas, a feeling, a place, an expression. Communication is my strength, I love working with others for a similar goal.
Who is a creative that has helped you elevate your work?
My good friend Ocean Knight and I go all the way back to high school, she is my graphic design and fashion guru! She keeps me hip on all things New York, and inspires me constantly to work in mediums I may not have ever tried before. Definitely an inspiration in color theory, and her own personal style is just dope.
Find her at @sub.minus on Instagram
HOW SHOULD SOMEONE APPROACH YOU ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER?
E-mail! Describe your project in detail, and what medium you would like me to work in. I’d love to know more about you and your values, as well as your aesthetic goals.
HOW DO YOU STAY CREATIVE?
Meditation, cooking, gardening, loving! Peaceful downtime.
This member profile was originally published in April 2021.