Yuko Shimizu: Taking Down the Proud Kings of the Past

This is my first Yuku Shimizu piece. I picked this up from her last summer, from a charity auction that she was doing on Instagram. The auction was for The DOE Fund. Which is a non-profit in New York, which is aimed at giving people who need it a real second chance at life. On top of getting a really great piece, I got to correspond with Yuko, and we were interviewed together for The DOE Fund's newsletter. They really are a worthy charity. If you're looking to do a little good with some of your money I encourage you to check out their website. Yuko got involved with them from meeting the guys who the charity helps, as they were doing some volunteer clean up work around her neighborhood. She has been donating to them for a while now, and wanted to do something special.

The piece itself: Taking Down the Proud Kings of the Past is a great example of her work that has more of a social commentary kind of lean. The proud lion, or king of the jungle, is surrounded by those he sees as dogs, as they circle around him to take him down. I personally think she had DJT in mind as the proud king, at least at some level. I did not ask her this, it is merely my observation / speculation. But, the idea surely adds to my enjoyment of the piece! Especially as it was created / acquired during the height of the Covid fiasco that was his last year in office. I do plan on asking her about just that question when I hopefully get to meet her in person at NYCC some year.