Ay-O

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[edit] From Democrato to Fluxus

Ay-O (Takao Iijima) is a Japanese artist born in 1931, who has been associated with Fluxus since its international beginnings in the 1960s. Ay-O was introduced to George Maciunas by Yoko Ono in 1961 and formally joined Maciunas in Fluxus in 1963. Ay-O was known for his Finger Boxes and for his performance events when he was active in Fluxus. He worked closely with fellow Fluxus artists, George Maciunas, Emmett Williams, Dick Higgins and Nam June Paik. Before joining fluxus Ay-O started his career in the Demokrato Artist Association (　デモクラート　美術家協会　）, created by Ei-Q (瑛九). This association promotes artistic freedom and independence in making art. The influence of these values with Ay-O can be seen in a series of early paintings over which he painted a large X because he thought they were not original enough. Another independent movement got close to Democrato in Japan: Sozo Biiku (創造美育)　by collector Kubo Sadajiro (久保　貞次郞）promoting nurturing freedom when teaching art. Both movements explain Ay-O special's bound with the Fukui prefecture in Japan. Sozo Biiku's approach naturally sometimes promotes some form of Naive Art. Kubo also created the "Small Collector Society" (小コレターの会) to spread art collection in society.

[edit] The Rainbow Artist

Ay-O has established a reputation in the avant gardes of Japan, Europe and the United States. In Japan, he is known as the "Rainbow Man" for his use of colorful, rainbow-striped motifs in his artwork. In its purest form some paintings are simple gradations of the Rainbow with up to 192 gradations.


Example with 96 gradations

Ay-O represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in 1966 and at the Sao Paolo Biennale in 1971. He also built the famed "Tactile Rainbow" at the Osaka World's Fair in 1970. In 1971 true to his Demokato debut he adapted 10 American Naive paintings and created a rainbow version that he called Nashville Skyline. In 1987 he did a series of Rainbow Happenings, with Rainbow Happening #17 being a 300m Rainbow Eiffel Tower project in Paris.

[edit] Recent Activities

One of his projects in English was a Collective Portrait of George Maciuanas, that he co-edited with Emmett Williams and Ann Noel. In the recent decade Ay-O has exhibited regularly at the Emily Harvey Gallery in (1996, 2001) and Gallery Itsutsuji (1996,2005,2007) and Gallery Goto (1999,2004) in Japan. In Japan Ay-O is part of the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo and Kyoto (see 2005 Tokyo exhibition in the links). In 2001 Ay-O had a room in the special exhibit "La fluxus Constellation" in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Genoa. He was also represented in various other Fluxus exhibitions around the world as "Centraal Fluxus Festival" Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2003), "Fluxus & Non Fluxus Fluxus" Randers kunstmuseum (2006). Ay-O was one of the "Twelve Japanese Artists from the Venice Biennale 1952-2001," in Art Tower Mito ATM, Mito. At the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Ay-O was part of two exhibitions: "Tokyo-Berlin / Berlin-Tokyo" in 2005 and "All about laughter" in 2007.

[edit] Fukui Retrospective

Ay-O did his most complete retrospective exhibition in the Fukui Art Museum in 2006. This exhibition was the occasion for the artist to write a bilingual book "Over the Rainbow, Ay-O Restrospective 1950-2006," providing probably the best overview of his work: a welcomed addition to an otherwise stealth bibliography on the Rainbow Artist.

[edit] Publications

  • Mr. Fluxus: A Collective Portrait of George Maciunas 1931-1978, Thames & Hudson, 1998
  • Niji: Ai O hanga zen sakuhinshu, 1954-1979, Published in English by Sobunsha
  • Ouzel, Chikumasyobo Publishing, 1978
  • Ay-O, Over the Rainbow, Ay-O Restrospective 1950-2006 (174 pages) (ISBN 4568103592), Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha (美術出版社), 2006

[edit] References

  • Rainbow Rainbow prints, Catalogue raisonne, Abe Shuppan, Co, 2000
  • Japan Quarterly, Asahi Shinbunsha eds, 1973,v. 20 p187 and v.22-23 1975-1976 p286
  • Caroline Parsons, People the Japanese Know, Japan Times eds, 127 pages (ISBN 4789004538), 1989
  • Leigh Landy, Technology, Avant Garde collection (Interdisciplinary and International Series) (ISBN 9051832869), p 23, 1992
  • Hannah Higgins, Fluxus Experience, University of California Press, 2002
  • Owen Smith, Fluxus: The History of an Attitude, San Diego State University Press, 1999
  • Midori Yoshimoto Into Performance: Japanese Women Artists In New York, p41 and p118 (ISBN 0813535212), Rutgers University Press, 2005

[edit] External links