Jim Kempner Fine Art is pleased to announce a two person exhibition of paintings by Shanlin Ye and KAORUKO. The exhibition will open on Saturday, June 17th, and continue through July 23rd, 2017.

Shanlin Ye creates figurative watercolors that explore the coarse, imperfect and aberrant side of human existence. Seeking to express the natural beauty of the female body in exuberant moments of daily life, Shanlin utilizes the reflective and ethereal nature of watercolor to depict these ephemeral moments. On exhibit will be selections from her Day Dreamer series, a series of colorful figurative works featuring unusual scenes of individual lives, each depicting a sweet secret, hidden desire or wild fantasy. There will also be works from her Reflection series, a series of black and white portraits that explore the mysteries of the human face. In a representational abstract style, Shanlin superimposes finely detailed patterns and images over emotionally charged portraits. Born in China and now living in St. Louis, Ye's work was recently selected as a national juried competition winner for Paperworks 2017, selected by juror Akili Tommasino, Curatorial Assistant at the Museum of Modern Art.

Former teenage pop star KAORUKO explores the identity of Japanese women at a crossroad between traditional and contemporary life. In her paintings she depicts languid women in contemporary domestic spaces, set against traditional kimono patterned backgrounds. She uses silkscreen to copy the 300 year old kimono patterns. Expressing feminism as a positive element in her work, the paintings in this exhibition reference pop culture and traditional Ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock printing, which uses flat, defined areas of color and subtle color gradation. Her images celebrate the strength and determination of the Japanese idol (pop singers), subverting the fragility and cuteness of female sexuality that is preferred in Japanese society. Born in Nagoya, Japan, she currently lives in New York.