Magical Realism, Comics and Friend-Love: The Artwork of Yumi Sakugawa

While OC's arts scene has always shown promise, few have ever reached the widespread attention and buzz that Yumi Sakugawa has achieved. Sakugawa is an indie comic artist and illustrator who was born in Orange, grew up in Anaheim Hills and was naturally drawn to the arts (and encouraged by her parents) since an early age, leading up to her enrollment at UCLA.

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Sakugawa's art is characterized mainly by its sparse details, surreal imagery, dark ink strokes, and rich literary influences which include Haruki Murakami, Aimee Bender and Alice Munro, as well as other independent comic artists such as Michael DeForge, Hellen Jo and Adrian Tomine. Indeed, her work carries a poetic elegance emboldened by her storytelling, taking you to distant universes and illuminating worlds in every reading. Her work has been heralded by NPR, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, Juztapoz Magazine, PAPERMAG, and other art-focused publications.

You can hear (and see) for yourself Ms. Sakugawa's work as she discusses in length about her inspirations and the concepts behind her work, as well as an excerpt from her acclaimed book, I THINK I AM IN FRIEND-LOVE WITH YOU.

All images used with permission by the artist. For more information on Yumi Sakugawa, visit her website at www.yumisakugawa.com

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