Today we’d like to introduce you to Miyuki Sena.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Lost. Abandoned as a baby—not sure how old—and adopted; brought to Northern California from Korea at age 3 1/2. Lost my father at 9 (from sexual abuse), my mother when I was 12. Then I lost my grandmother, father (death from cancer), aunt, grandfather, many adults who would care for me and many friends, young and old—and for over 25 years—the loss of my adopted brother. I had no mentors, no guidance, no solid footing. I had a beacon inside of me, and it wasn’t until just a few months ago I realized that my drive to be valuable, to make a difference, to prove that I belong somewhere is from not knowing where I belonged, who I belonged to, and why I was here.
Please tell us about your art. What do you do/make/create? How? Why? What’s the message or inspiration? What do you hope people take away from it? What should we know about your artwork?
A bit of fate. Unable to find employment after having my own design firm, I started to doodle every morning at a cafe before sludging through the day’s job market. A couple of years later I found I had amassed thousands of drawings. Some I took to painting in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Although I am educated in all artist’s mediums, even air-brush (anyone remember that?), I like the digital apps. With an affliction of insomnia, I can work all through the night—roll into bed and out of bed—and not worry about set up and clean up.
Most of my work is from doodles, and the rest are from insomnia and dreams. I’ve learned how to wake up from a deep sleep and sketch or document what I see. Sometimes I’ll have arguments with my own self on whether sleep is more important or that I need to get up because I won’t remember the images when I awake. On many occasions, I’ll lay down knowing full well that I won’t fall asleep, but that I’ll be rewarded with the most amazing shows inside my eyelids. I’ll jump up and create these images. It’s my insomniac series. Regarding doodles, our subconscious is so imaginative and free, that I let it take over; I respect it, and when I recreate them as paintings I follow all the quirkiness, subject matter, composition, and imperfections.
Everyone takes what they will from my art there isn’t anything I can and should do with that. My style is never-ending (I call it) scapes. I climb, fly, swim, and wander through mostly happy, quirky, images. I am offended (silently, of course) when people say that my art is great for kids—they devalue it and see it as fluffy.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
Be pragmatic about art unless you can do it as a hobby. Profit and Success are not bad words. You can’t make art if you don’t have money to support that lifestyle. The “starving artist” is not romantic and it’s very small-minded. Don’t be ashamed of making art for money.
I know my art has that something that is commercial and sellable (and these are not bad words either). Commercial is not an ugly word defining an artist. It means that your art’s got something. So even if I’m not consciously making art for the masses, if I make something that is pleasing to the masses then that, to me, is success.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I do the usual social media thing: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. but I also have a graphic design background. As an artist, I’m glad that I’m able to build my own website and online store. On the other hand, I have to make sure that I create art as a fine artist and not as a designer thinking “this would be great on a tote bag or pillow.”
Early on I gobbled up my name on all the social forums, which is now my brand: MIYUKISENA. It’s my website, my Gmail, my handle for everything.
I’m fairly new at this fine art thing, about three years, and I know that it’s difficult to make a living. That’s why I’m building my brand through products and selling them online at my store which is MIYUKISENA.com (of course) at a brick and mortar space at Crafted in San Pedro called MIYUKISENA, and I show my fine art at TAG Gallery in Los Angeles. Even with a very solid design and marketing background, I feel mired down in the minutia of branding and making money. But it’s what I have to do to support my habit… making art.
It’s nice to see a face light up or to hear a compliment or see a person lean in to take a longer look at something I’ve created. More importantly and simply, support by buying!
Contact Info:
- Address: Living and working in Los Angeles County. Showing at TAG Gallery, Wilshire Blvd. LA and Crafted, San Pedro Port of Los Angeles
- Website: www.MIYUKISENA.com
- Email: artist@MIYUKISENA.com
- Instagram: @MIYUKISENA
- Facebook: /MIYUKI.SENA.7
- Twitter: @MIYUKISENA
Image Credit:
Photos and Art by Miyuki Sena
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