Sticker artist Yukino Omura's exhibition "Beautiful Night" opened on November 27th at the Global Closet Gallery on the second floor of the main building of the Isetan Shinjuku department store. It runs until December 10th. Six works are on display and for sale at the exhibition, including new pieces created specifically for the occasion. Her new work, "Beautiful Night Shinjuku" (priced at 420,000 yen), themed around the city of Shinjuku, took over three weeks to complete, using over 10,000 stickers, the smallest of which is only about 3mm in size. Regarding her new work, Yukino Omura explained, "I started by taking photos of the Shinjuku nightscape and then finding the most picturesque composition. Shinjuku is a city with a lot of light, so it was difficult to choose what to focus on. The stickers used were smaller than in my previous works, making it a delicate process, but by using small sizes, I wanted to express a cool, clean urban feel." While studying abstract painting at Tama Art University, she wondered if there was a way to create artworks using techniques that were easier for everyone to understand. She suddenly had the idea to try using stickers, which are inexpensive and readily available, and this led to her current style. "With stickers, I could start with the simple task of sticking them on, and by using round and triangular stickers, I was able to fuse them with the world of abstract painting I had studied," she recalls. Many of her works feature nightscapes, but "as a child living in Yokohama, nightscapes are a familiar sight to me, and perhaps my roots lie in that." In the future, she plans to create works that incorporate seasonal themes, such as Christmas illuminations. She describes her work as "making pictures," and, with a desire to continue creating art that engages the audience, she also offers workshops for adults and children.

"I think many people distance themselves from contemporary art because they think it is difficult, but art is ultimately something to enjoy. My works are characterized by their simplicity, consisting of a series of familiar items such as stickers, so they are easy to understand for people who are not interested in art, adults and children alike. I would be happy if there are people who see my work and think, 'I want to try that too,'" she says.