A return to tradition with Noah Haruki
Noah Haruki – Queer Japanese Calgarian Artist
Painter Noah Haruki connects with his heritage through his homoerotic paintings. We connected with Noah to learn more about how his experience as a third-generation Japanese Canadian artist influences the lines of tradition and exploring beyond the boundaries.
Pride In Business: What motivates you to be creative? What is your creative process?
Noah Haruki: Most of my work is directly inspired by other artists. I spend a lot of time browsing museum catalogues of artwork, either online or in books. It feels like an unlimited resource for inspiration. Even artworks I’ve seen before will give me new ideas when I revisit them. I also love learning about history and culture, and looking at historical artwork is just a fun way to look into the past.
Sometimes in my day-to-day life, I will see something beautiful that really strikes me, and I need to paint it, or I need to think about how I can use it in a painting. It could be an object, a landscape, a person, or even just a plant I see when I’m out for a walk. Sometimes, images for paintings will just come to me, almost mysteriously, and I need to get it down on paper to see if it works. So other artwork is usually where I look to for inspiration, but really anything can spark creativity.
Noah Haruki – Queer Japanese Calgarian Artist
PIB: How has your art changed your life over the years, has it opened any doors recently?
NH: Making art has given me a lot of confidence to try new things. As an artist, I’m used to constantly failing and making mistakes and having to learn and adapt with new mediums. It’s made me more open to making mistakes and not being so worried when things don’t always work out how I want them to. Recently, my art has really opened the door for me to connect more with the LGBTQ2S+ community. Events like Pride in Art have introduced me to so many amazing queer professionals and artists that I never would’ve met otherwise!
As for my ceramic art, I have been really lucky to get commissions for a few Japanese restaurants, which has always been a fantasy of mine. Those commissions helped me to meet a lot of inspiring and incredible people in the restaurant industry as well.
Noah Haruki – Queer Japanese Calgarian Artist
PIB: What would be your biggest achievement as an artist so far?
NH: I still consider my very first art sale a huge achievement. The idea that someone I had never met before wanted an art piece I had no previous intention of selling completely changed the way I thought of my art. As my art has developed, I’ve had more and more incredible experiences and opportunities, but that first sale really marked a turning point for me, and I still look back on it with a sense of pride.
PIB: How has your art evolved since your first began?
NH: Over the years, I have gotten more and more interested in traditional painting methods and techniques. When I was younger, in high school, my biggest inspirations were graphic novels and anime and manga. My goal back then was to write a graphic novel, and that was the main direction I saw my art going in. But as my individual pieces got more and more attention online, I started taking the prospect of fine art more seriously and spent more time making stand-alone pieces.
I used to just use whatever materials were available to me. Markers, brush pens, watercolours. But now, I almost exclusively work using very traditional mediums. Mineral and earth pigments, natural binders, traditional papers, and Japanese ink. Getting to use the same materials and techniques as the artists that have most inspired me is very exciting. I also feel like learning traditional methods bring me closer to my cultural background, and there is a lot of deep knowledge preserved in tradition.
PIB: How does your art showcase your identity, what medium or technique best represents you?
NH: For a very long time, I’ve used art to express my Japanese heritage. My desire to produce Japanese-themed work has really pushed me to study Japanese culture and history in an extremely detailed and, ok, obsessive way. Art has also been a fun way to show my pride in my sexual identity as well. For a lot of people, cultural identity can often clash with sexual/gender identity, so I feel lucky that I get this medium where I can explore both identities and find a harmony between the two that other people can also appreciate.
I think that Japanese ink painting best represents me. It’s very simple, just ink on paper, but it is extremely sensitive to the touch of the brush. Each stroke can reveal so much energy and intention. Some of my favourite art pieces, both from my own portfolio and also from other artists, are very simple and understated ink paintings.
To experience Noah’s work and the work of other featured artists, get your tickets for the Pride In Art event on May 26, 2023, here.
Website: noahharukiart.com
Instagram: @samuraibara
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Fong
PIB — Communications, Events, & Social Media Manager
Pride In Business article in partnership with TD.
By Michael Fong