Iku Oseki’s artwork is currently on display at The Inside-Out Gallery, located in the CVS Window in Davis Square in Somerville.

Works by Iku Oseki on display in Davis Square
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By Ryan DiLello

Local artist and art teacher, Iku Oseki paints without diverting her eyes from the subject. The technique is called blind contour drawing and it entails sketching an object without looking at one’s canvas.

“This technique was prominent in the 70s and 80s, around the time that a book about drawing on the right side of the brain came out,” Oseki said.

Though Okesi attended art school, she informed me that she had not always been a painter. It was the blind contour technique that enabled her break into the practice while on sabbatical from her job as an art teacher. “It was really incredible. I did a few renditions 5-6 times. I really liked drawing faces more than anything,” she said, mentioning her recurring interest in photos she found of Amazonian natives featured in TIME Magazine.

“When I do ‘blind contour,’ my eyes are on the object. My eyes are traveling the surface of whatever the thing is. When I’m looking intently at something and not worrying about how I’m drawing, I have much more sense of whatever I’m drawing. And then some imaginary stories pop up and I’m not worried about my hands. I’m just looking, looking, looking. And every once in a while I go off the page.”

Oseki says her style enables her to depart from realism and imagine a narrative within her painted scenes. “I am always interested in human emotions, activities and interactions, capturing a moment when people are intensely focused on an activity or a thing.” Oseki told the Somerville Arts Council. “The process of painting allows me to discover all sorts of nuances of the scene, the emotions involved, and emerging stories.”

Oseki’s artwork is currently on display in the Inside-Out Gallery located in the CVS Window, Davis Square and features scenes from her travels to Croatia, Mexico, and New Orleans. Oseki says she is excited to contribute to the space within Davis Square in particular, as people return to public areas and welcome the spring weather and colors.