Ay-O

Born: 1931, In lbaraki Prefecture
Medium: Silkscreen, etching, woodblock, watercolor

After graduating from college in Tokyo in 1954. Ay-O (whose real name is lijima Takao) worked mostly with painting and lithography. He wrote his graduate thesis on Sartre and the French artist Leger, and was very opposed to the hierarchical system of Japanese artists, prevalent in his youth. He went to New York in 1958, and spent many years in the United States, including a teaching appointment at the University of Kentucky in 1968-69. In the mid 1960’s, he also began to do silkscreen prints, utilizing gradations of the rainbow spectrum. He was a supporter of Pop Art and was also involved with the Fluxus group in New York, known for radical street events. During the 60’s and 70’s, Ay-O presented numerous Rainbow Happenings and Environments in Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles and Koln. The French government requested that he create a visual celebration for the centennial of the Eiffel Tower Park, in 1987. Only the second artist to use the Tower as part of an art piece, he draped it with 300 meter long rainbow banners.
Although the common element of the rainbow might seem to make his work repetitious, Ay-O manages to discover myriad subjects that can be magnificently interpreted by his vision. Whether he uses birds, erotica from Ukiyo-e prints, the SST, a Gauguin composition, sumo wrestlers, or a scene inspired by a Bob Dylan song, each print gives us a sense of beauty, and a keen respect for Ay-O’s technical expertise in color registration.

Exhibitions:
San Francisco
Japan Print Association, Tokyo
Vancouver Print Biennial
Venice Biennial, Italy
Sao Paulo Biennial, Brazil
CWAJ Print Show, Tokyo
Ljublijanac Print Biennia

Collections:
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
British Museum, London
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Louisiana Museum, Denmark
Bridgestone Museum, Tokyo
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art