Yuka Masuko

born in 1991, living currenctly in Halle, Germany.
An Illustrator and multilingual comic artist.

Since my childhood in London, I have been wondering where the Eden is.
That might have a strong connection with my identity as a third culture kid.
Back then, I had as a treasure, a collection of one hundred Japanese folk tale books, which nurtured my sensitivity.
At the age of seven I had a passion for sharing my works which made me stick pictures on the street and host a small drawing workshop at the corner of my grandmother’s piano school.
My work is an assemblage of poetic or personal texts, geometrical visual language of simplicity and symbolic use of colours. It expresses shapeless mind landscape, which can also associate as a Tillandsia, the plant without roots, living only from slight water in the air and voyaging where the breeze goes.

Yuka Masuko（マスコユカ）
1991年生まれ。イラストレーター。現在はドイツのハレ在住。
主に独英日仏のマリチリンガルでヨーロピアンコミック（バンド・デシネ）を描いている。

ロンドンでの幼少期から「楽園はどこにあるのだろう」と考えていて、それはthird culture kidである私のアイデンティティと強く結びついているのかもしれません。その頃の私の宝物は、日本の民話集百冊のコレクションであり、それが私の感性を育んでくれました。七歳の頃から、自分の描いた絵を路上に貼りつけたり、祖母のピアノ教室の一角で小さなお絵かき教室を開いたりと、絵を共有したいという情熱を持っていました。作品においては、詩/あるいは（きわめて）私的なことばや色、シンプルな幾何学からなるカタチで、まるでルーツを持たず空気にふくまれる僅かな水を吸って風に吹かれるチランジアみたいに、とらえどころのない心象を描写したいと思っています。

feel free to contact me, such as collaboration works, review of my comics, workshops...
↓
mail@yukamasuko.de or +49 15901346399

EDUCATION

2017-2022 B.A. Communication design at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle, Germany
2020-2021 B.A. Illustration at Haute école des arts du Rhin in Strasbourg, France
2010-2014 B.A.Political Studies at Gakushuin University in Tokyo
( International Political Studies of Islam and Minority Groups )

WORKS

2022
“combirth” Künstlerkollektiv PUKAPUKA at Concent Shibuya, Tokio
“je joue” at Galaxie neuer Künste, Halle
Group exhibition (online) "distance"
for more information, click here
A graphic novel for exhibition ZIEMLICH BESTE FREUNDE - HANS THUAR & AUGUST MACKE at Edwin scharff Museum, Ulm, Germany
2021
Group exhibition (online) "distance"
for more information, click here
A graphic novel for exhibition ZIEMLICH BESTE FREUNDE - HANS THUAR & AUGUST MACKE at Edwin scharff Museum, Ulm, Germany
2020
Comic "Nicht einschlafen" for Book "MATE 24 Stunden-Comic am Wannsee", 2020 JAJA Verlag, (ISBN 978-3-948904-04-3)
A graphic novel for exhibition ZIEMLICH BESTE FREUNDE - HANS THUAR & AUGUST MACKE at Kunsthaus Museen Stade, Germany
Die BURG zum Bauhausfest 2020: Meta Stories at Bauhaus Archieve, Dessau, Germany
for more information, click here
2019
Joint Exhibition with Sayoon Yang "Kalendaraktion" at Burg2 Gallery, Halle, Germany
Group exhibition "Stromlinien" at Interaudio, Berlin, Germany
DREI MONSTERS IN BERLIN, within the framework of Comic Invasion Berlin, screened on Berlin Subway, Germany
Live painting at Künstler Bühne Kibo Berlin, Germany
2018
ESBEN, comic for magazine “Junior Sunshine” Kairyudo Publishing, Tokyo
Aftertaste, comicanthology "Dendrolagus #2", Malmö, Sweden
Comicworkshop in Kibo Berlin summerfestival, Germany (since then holding regulary)
2017
Contribute for a comicanthology "Alligator（ありがとあ）vol.1", Berlin, Germany
Joint exhibition with Fuki "Between extinction and evolution" at Kichijouji Gallery in Tokyo, Japan
2016
Comicworkshop "Erste Schritte im Charakterdesign" Ein Geometrischer Spaß! mit Yuka Masuko in Berlin
2012-2013 Web design & Character design in a startup company in Tokyo
2010-2013 Photo Activity Instructor in Gakushuin Girls Highschool

AWARDS

2020 Erasmus+ exchange program
2018 Gakushuin Oyukai oversea study scholarship program
2018 BURG START BLICK award of excellence