After graduating from university, Naoko worked in accounting, advertising planning, and art direction. She later moved to the   United States to pursue her childhood dream of studying fine art at the Corcoran School of Art.

 Following exhibitions in New York, Italy, and Tokyo, she had to pause her artistic career due to health issues. Since 2020, Naoko has resumed her practice and is now based in the Kansai region of Japan.

 Her current themes include the regeneration and cyclical nature of the pure original form known as “core,” as well as the accumulation of memory within physical spaces. She explores these concepts through a range of media, including painting, sculpture, and installation.

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Journey to the Depths

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Hiroaki Kyotani (Poet and Critic)

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 In life, events that cause conflict. contradiction, or fragmentation are constant.

While these can be sources of wounds to the heart, they also serve as opportunities for the formation of character through experience. In such contexts, when one encounters the energy arising from the clash and tug-of-war of opposing forces, or from dissonance and friction, consciousness can sometimes be guided to the essence of things.

The notion of <CORE> as posited by the artist is something realized through such special experiences. It was represented in the following perfect VISION seen during a period of extreme circumstances-after an accident when physical and mental troubles persisted.

 -At one point, a transcendent entity transferred a ball of light into the artist's body. This ball, vibrating with gravity, gradually grew larger until it exploded, turning the artist into fragmented pieces. Simultaneously, the artist became aware of observing their own body from a distance, and the room was filled with light. This was a state of blissful forgetfulness, a moment when the essence of the soul was touched-

This absolute experience became represented as <CORE>. The earliest work depicting it is "e3_flow" painted with ink and acrylic (created in 2011). The meaning of "e3" stands for the three "e's": energy, emotion, ecstasy. It is a work consisting of two pieces representing yin and yang.

 <CORE> may sometimes be depicted as an archetype within the artwork but is not necessarily always represented as a tangible entity. However, it seems to resonate like a continuo in almost all works. It is because of <CORE> that each work can exist with intensity. When viewing individual works, the concepts discussed in Leibniz's "Monadology" resonate strongly.

 Even though the artist continues to create with

various motivations and themes, the task of recreating the light experienced in that absolute moment remains a persistent, unconscious demand. It could be rephrased as creativity being continuously guided by that transcendent light.

 Moreover, the titles assigned to individual works are obtained through acts of shedding light on the depths of the subconscious during the painting process. The artist has realized that the titles, when traced, often show a connected series of clues that can unlock the mysteries of their life.

 Therefore, it might be said that both the paintings and the words are symbols created to heal the wounds etched into the artist's subconscious.

 The absolute event that led to the realization of <CORE> was also a revelatory event. It might be a sensation of connecting internally with the body while also connecting externally. In any case, it seems to be the core through which energy circulates and flows through both the internal and external realms. However, just as the truth itself cannot be grasped as an immutable entity, <CORE> too cannot be captured as such. Therefore, the exploration will continue, and the intensity of the journey is sure to increase.

 Through the practice of painting, layering, and collaging with materials, we gain clues to access <CORE> through the manifest forms of thought. However, once this awareness is attained, it becomes impossible to treat the works of Shohko Garing as mere objects and to objectify <CORE> as something external. One cannot remain in such a detached position.

This is because the quest for the soul and the growth of the soul are universally fundamental challenges in life. <CORE> is something that exists in the realm where the depths of the self and the depths of the world intersect, an indescribable something.

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