Art isn’t one thing. It doesn’t inspire identical reactions from all viewers. Art inspires, educates. Consciously or not, our responses to works of art help us understand the world around us.  Artist Hiroko Yoshimoto nspires us to think deeply. Her work has the power to amaze us. This is especially true of her body of work known as Biodiversity.  

Hiroko describes the philosophy behind this body of work: “Biodiversity reflects my ardent wish that life’s diversity would continue to flourish in the face of accelerated destructive forces created by human hand. The seemingly infinite and wondrous diversity of life forms, like the microbes in a drop of water, inspires unique colors, shapes, and lines that then come alive on my canvas.” 

Biodiversity 137 30×40 oil on panel 2022

Please join us Monday, October 10 at 1:00 p.m. at the Santa Paula Art Museum. Hiroko will share her thoughts about the ecological damage to our planet occurring every day, man’s role in that destruction, and nature’s response. Paradoxically her work inspires joy, engendering a determination to mitigate damage already done and find a new way to co-exist with this enormously fascinating and beautiful world. 

Biodiversity 120 50×102 oil on canvas

This event is limited to 20 guests. Suggested donation $20. Attendees who are not members of Santa Paula Museum of Art are asked to pay the Museum’s admission price ($4 adults’ $3 seniors) at the time of the event. Reservations required by October 7. 

Also showing is a large-scale installation titled Impending Storms, based on the theme of saving endangered species. Working in collaboration with the Blue Marble Art Collective, it was designed from Hiroko’s concept of “entrapping” in fish gill nets over 900 original drawings of endangered animals and plants collected from artists of all ages and locations. The installation covers 10’ x 20’ of floor space and rises to a height of 18’. 

 In addition to the above-mentioned work, SPAM is presenting Our Changing Planet, a video installation by W. Scott Miles; works by FOTM extensively documented artist Katherine Chang Liu and Victoria Tasch This Museum is truly a jewel box! We’ll have a marvelous opportunity to stretch our vision of our world as it is and the ever-increasing perils we face. 

 At the Focus on the Masters Arts Archive & Library, we strive to broaden our understanding of the world around us and to highlight the lives and works of artists in our community. Hiroko Yoshimoto was extensively documented in 1999. She has exhibited world-wide.  

 We look forward to seeing YOU on October 10th. Please make your reservation today!