art beat / By Bob Doran

Ema Gyaru

(Jan. 4, 2007)  The exhibition filling the Thonson Gallery at the Morris Graves Museum of Art titled “A Bridge to Japan: Orr Marshall Retrospective” is a tribute to the breadth and scope of work by the Eureka-based artist.

Marshall says his path to Japan began in the mid-‘60s at Oakland’s College of Arts and Crafts where he was teaching after finishing his master’s in art at Yale. One of the students in his graphics class was a Japanese woman named Fukiko. Always hungry for knowledge, Marshall was studying the Japanese language at the time and tried out his vocabulary on the woman who would eventually become his wife. A lifetime friendship and partnership resulted from the conversation that ensued.

“Graffiti Girl” by Orr Marshal.

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“She helped me get a scholarship to study in Japan at the National University of Fine Arts,” he recalled when I met him at the museum last week. Part of the deal was that they would marry when they got back from Japan. “We did. Then we went back to live in Japan from 1968-‘71. My first son was born there.”

The retrospective includes just a few paintings done in Japan, but many others show the influence of his immersion in the culture. Modern Japanese imagery fills two large paintings placed at either end of the gallery, “Manga Girl” and “Graffiti Girl.” For someone who does not speak Japanese, the paintings cry out for translation.

The almost life-sized “Graffiti Girl” flashes a peace sign as she stands before a wall decorated with graffiti and posters. She wears a wooden plaque covered in calligraphy around her neck and holds similar plaques in her hand; more adorn the wall. Around the corner we see another girl standing in a street lined with dozens of advertising signs.

“I can tell you a lot about this painting,” said Marshall. “In general it was the result of my first visit back to Japan after having lived there 32 years earlier. Our son Steven got married in Japan in 2003 and our whole family went to the wedding. Not having been in Japan for so long, it was an overwhelming experience. In a way it was just like the Japan I had lived in years ago - the feeling is the same, but the buildings are much taller and there are a lot more people.

“The thing that inspired this painting was something I didn’t used to see: There are quite a few blonde girls, not to mention other colors. The most common is the color you see on this girl [in the alley], a light brown they call `tea color.’”

He admitted that “Graffiti Girl” is not exactly an accurate translation of the Japanese title, ” Ema Gyaru ,” which is painted in three-dimensional lettering across the piece. Gyaru , “girl,” is closer to “gal,” and refers to a fashion style that often includes unusual modern makeup and hairstyles.

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