Anyway you cut it, Lauren Miko loves sushi. "I love to eat it, love to make it. Love the colors, loves the shapes," said the Springfield artist. "I’ve done food before, but when I started with sushi I became hooked on it. It’s the presentation, the color — everything about it, I love."
That love shines through in "O-Sushi!", Miko’s solo exhibition at the Printmakers gallery (Studio 325 in the Torpedo Factory Art Center) which runs through June 30. The art of food becomes the food of art: vibrant colors pop through stark black lines, vividly recreating different types of the Japanese delicacy.
Granted, as Miko said, "recreating" may be a stretch — the playful colors exaggerate reality. "As long as you make the tuna red and wasabi green, people kind of recognize it," she said.
While living in Okinawa, Miko began appreciating the simple charms of Japanese life. That included the cuisine, whose visual nature seemed an interesting fit with Miko’s artistic style: a "linoleum block" technique.
Miko said she cuts and carves into linoleum — or some other synthetic surface — until her design is complete. She then uses a heavy, damp paper, like some Japanese papers or traditional Western printmaking paper, to transfer the image in dark black ink. After it has dried, Miko hand-colors the image with watercolor or collaged rice papers.
MIKO FIRST APPLIED her technique to sushi for a different project about four or five years ago. She entered one sushi print into a show and was accepted. She then sold about five prints in the span of a month and realized she was onto something special.
She has a degree in graphic design from Humboldt State University and worked for many years in commercial art, creating promotional materials and T-shirts through screen printing. Miko eventually decided to focus on her art, leaving her full-time job in graphic design and opting for freelance work.
"Working in commercial art, you’re always doing something else’s idea. And they always pick the one you hate," she said with a laugh. "You get tied of working on stuff that you would have done differently if it were yours."
"O-Sushi!" is definitely Miko’s idea: Her whimsical character and love of texture are evident in many of the pieces.
So is her love of sushi — but does she have a favorite kind?
"Scallop," she said. "It depends on how they make it. If it’s a big piece of scallop, I don’t like it as much because it’s a little slimy. But I’ve had it a few times where they chop it up into little piece and almost make it a salad with a little bit of mayonnaise."
Miko said the response to her art has been strong, with fans asking her if she will continue to produce pieces based on food. She isn’t sure what her next artistic passion will be.
"I don’t know," said Miko. "My brain is filled with sushi right now."