YUFI

Born in Tokyo and self-taught, Yufi paints more by intuition than by intention. Her work occupies a liminal space between consciousness and unconsciousness, where memories, dreams and sensations blur into one another.

Of Japanese, Korean, American and Russian descent through her roots and upbringing, she has always lived between worlds — between cultures, languages and ways of seeing. That in-between becomes a quiet strength in the painting: her figures seem to float, unanchored, as though carrying her own borderless identity.

Her palette of soft mauves, warm yellows and deep blues draws on the landscapes of her past, from Californian sunsets to the delicate light of Japan. The canvases oscillate between solitude and comfort, haze and radiance — like the blurred memory of a place that may only ever have existed in a dream.

At a time when we are constantly pushed to pick a side, Yufi’s work offers a gentle resistance, and a rare form of stillness: a place to dwell, to remember, to feel.

Sato Gallery presented her at Urban Art Fair in 2025 and gave her her first solo exhibition, High as Desert Nights, in November 2025.