NEW  YORK: Japanese artist Yuta Okuda has opened an exhibition of his paintings in New York, one of the places deeply affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic last year, hoping to cheer up guests while overcoming the language barrier.

The exhibition, titled “With Gratitude,” started Wednesday, displaying Okuda’s 27 flower drawings, all of which were shown for the first time.

Okuda, who lives in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, used to draw living objects in black and white. However, after facing the coronavirus crisis, he started to focus on painting colorful flowers to express gratitude.

“I want to show that I was able to see a future and became positive after I thanked for the simple things in life,” the 34-year-old said, describing how he overcame the hard time he had after his exhibitions were canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus.

“I hope many people will be able to share feelings of gratitude” through the event, Okuda said.

Okuda became an artist in 2016 after working as a designer for famous fashion brand Takeo Kikuchi.

The exhibition will run through Nov. 7.

JIJI Press