MIYA ANDO Ginga ("The Silver River" / "Galaxy") and Mandala September 10 – October 15, 2016 “I’ve always loved the Japanese word for galaxy and find it poetic to think of the galaxy as a river of stars in the sky” – Miya Ando Lora Schlesinger Gallery is pleased to present a new body of work by New York based artist Miya Ando. The exhibition titled Ginga ("The Silver River" / "Galaxy") and Mandala is an exploration of our connection to nature and the interconnectivity of all things. It will include two bodies of work that were inspired by the dual translation of the Japanese word for galaxy, which translates into ‘The Silver River in the Sky’ and ‘Mandala’. The show opens with an artist’s reception on Saturday, September 10th from 5-7 pm. Ginga ("The Silver River" / "Galaxy") and Mandala is a continued investigation into the themes of perception and one’s relationship to nature and time. In Buddhism, a mandala represents the universe and is traditionally used in meditation. The mandalas in the exhibition are created using Bodhi (Ficus Religiosa) skeleton leaves from the same species of the Bodhi tree where Buddha gained enlightenment. The leaves are dyed, arranged, and sewn together to compose diaphanous, elegant, and meditative works. Miya Ando has also created a new series of ephemeral paintings on metal for the exhibition. A descendant of Bizen sword makers, she combines traditional techniques with modern industrial technology, skillfully transforming metal panels into ethereal abstract paintings infused with color. The light-reflecting material produces experiential and mutable surfaces that shift with light. The foundation of her practice is the transformation of surfaces. Ando produces light-reflecting gradients on her metal paintings by applying heat, sandpaper, grinders, acid, and patinas, irrevocably altering the material’s chemical properties. By an almost meditative daily repetition of these techniques, she is able to subtract, reduce, and distill her concept until it reaches its simplest form. For Ando, a practicing Buddhist, the paradoxical pairing of metal with spiritual subject matter is intentional. Miya Ando received a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and attended Yale University to study Buddhist iconography and imagery. Ando’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the world, including a recent show curated by Nat Trotman of the Guggenheim Museum. Her large-scale installation piece Emptiness The Sky (Shou Sugi Ban) was featured in the Frontiers Reimagined exhibition in the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015. She has produced numerous public commissions, most notably a memorial sculpture in which she utilized a 30-foot tall piece of steel which had fallen from the World Trade Center buildings. The sculpture is permanently displayed in front of Zaha Hadid’s Aquatic Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. A Critic’s Pick in Artforum magazine in 2015, Ando is also recipient of numerous awards including the Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant.
Meditation Mandala Grid, 2016 bodhi skeleton leaves, microfilament, mounted on archival ragboard 21 x 21� - each framed
Kumo (cloud) 49.49.18, 2016 ink on stainless alucore 49 x 49� - framed
Mandala Blue Purple Moon, 2016 dye, urethane pigment, resin, stainless steel 41� - tondo
Kumo (cloud) 25.25.8, 2016 ink on stainless alucore 25 x 25� - framed
Kumo (cloud) 25.25.7, 2016 ink on stainless alucore 25 x 25� - framed
Kumo (cloud) 25.25.1, 2016 ink on stainless alucore 25 x 25� -framed
Kumo (cloud) 25.25.5, 2016 ink on stainless alucore 25 x 25� - each
Ukigumo Spring, 2016 dye, urethane, pigment on aluminum 24 x 24� - each 24 x 154" set of 6
Ukigumo Summer, 2016 dye, urethane, pigment on aluminum 24 x 24� - each 24 x 154" set of 6
Spectrum Aura, 2016 dye on aluminum 36 x 36�
Ginga The Silver River in the Sky (diptych),2016 dye on anodized aluminum 48 x 96"
Pink Aura, 2016 dye on aluminum 36 x 36�
Blue Purple Mandala, 2016 dyed bodhi skeleton leaves, microfilament, mounted on archival ragboard 41 x 41� - framed
Violet Mandala, 2016 dyed bodhi skeleton leaves, microfilament, mounted on archival ragboard 41 x 41� - framed
Green Blue Mandala, 2016 dyed bodhi skeleton leaves, microfilament, mounted on archival ragboard 41 x 41� - framed
Surface & Depth... An Interview With Miya Ando - Artist Miya Ando is an internationally respected and honored artist who works primarily with light and metal surfaces, notably aluminum, on which she applies pigments and urethanes, creating evocative naturalistic imagery which also retains a powerful sense of abstraction. Her ability to produce remarkably “real” clouds and rain in glass blocks is nothing short of magical and otherworldly. This is technique raised to a level of the mysterious. Miya’s treatment of surface requires an extraordinary level of ability, knowledge and skill, and her technique combines subtlety and understatement with a planetary scope of view. She captures oceans, skies, air, clouds, permanence and impermanence, time and timelessness, with an apparent ease (this is only the appearance of ease, what Miya accomplishes is very difficult to achieve) that is captivating. Her work produces an immediate emotional response which wells up, sometimes quite unexpectedly, into a feeling of universality and enormity. As can be seen from Miya’s answers to this writer’s questions, as well as in the video interview, below, she is extremely articulate and humble about her abilities, constantly seeking renewed expression, and “nonattachment” - a comment which provides insight into how deeply felt her work is, for she removes herself from it, permitting her work to assume its own presence and sense of being. What are your thoughts and feelings about sharing your artworks ? I think of artwork as part of a dialogue or conversation as opposed to a soliloquy. The artist makes a work and the viewer responds. I very much like to think of the making of art as participating in this form of communication, one that occurs whether I myself am physically present or not. I like the idea of a silent/non-verbal communication.
Do you ever feel vulnerable presenting your evocative artworks to gallery patrons ? Yes I think it is natural to feel a vulnerability any time one has given one’s very best effort. I practice a non-attachment both in the making of and exhibiting of the works because ultimately I can only make that which I’m making.
Do you have thoughts to share about the differences between gallery patrons and museum visitors as viewers of your artworks ? A non-commercial context may impact the work, it also may not. Each viewer I believe has a unique experience. The new works speak to this as the focus is on the experiential quality of the paintings and sculpture.
Do you believe that art is universally understandable ? There may be artworks which evoke or conjure feelings, experiences and senses which are perceived by most, so yes. How they are perceived may vary greatly, however. All art is rooted in the culture from which it arises, but does it therefore have limited appeal ? I was raised in Japan and in California so I have a different perception of this question. Is my work therefore appealing to only half-Japanese and half-Russian American people who lived in a Buddhist temple in Japan and a redwood forest in Santa Cruz? I hope not. Is an understanding of the cultural context of a work of art necessary for the viewer to fully appreciate the work ? No. It is a different understanding that’s all. In today’s commercial and artistic worlds, can an artist have great success, such as you have had and are having, acting only by themselves ? Definitely not, I think most achievements are the sum of the efforts of many people collectively.
Do you determine everything about your works or do the works themselves sometimes suggest paths to follow ? Each work comes out of the last. The artworks are in a progression of thought for me and have been since I began in 2002. A continuum of thought.
How would you characterize the visual arts scene today, vibrant ?... imaginative ?... repetitive ?... or... ? Exciting, vibrant, global with all the artfairs, interconnected and very interesting and dynamic. Manhattan where I am based is particularly so. How important are social connections and personal relationships in developing a successful career as an artist ? I think in life relationships are the key to happiness. In art it is no different, I feel grateful daily for having the presence of longtime dealers, collectors, friends and colleagues in my life. It seems obvious that your family’s legacy of sword making has influenced your art, but to what degree and in what ways ? Mostly as a way to investigate the idea of identity, perception and time. Do you consider yourself fluent in multiple mediums ? I consider myself a person who respects and studies very carefully multiple mediums. Is self-reflection difficult for an artist ? It shouldn’t be. Introspection and focus are imperative and should be cultivated. Where would you want your career to be in 10 years ? I hope to continue my practice and continue making things which interest me.
MIYA ANDO Selected Awards/Honors 2015 Shortlist Best Light Art Award, 9/11 Memorial Sculpture, London. Darc Award 2015 56th Venice Biennale, “Frontiers Reimagined” Exhibition, Museo di Palazzo Grimani, Italy 2015 Shortlist Marsh Award for Best Public Sculpture, 9/11 Memorial London 2015 Invited to The White House to meet Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, 2015 Washington DC 2014 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York “Spark Talks” Lecture 2013 Bronx Museum AIM Residency 2012 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant Award 2012 Blooom Art Award Finalist, Germany 2010 Thanatopolis Special Artist Award and Public Outdoor Commission Winner 2010 Puffin Foundation Grant Award Winner 2009 Fundraiser Co-Chair, The Indigo Youth Movement / New York, NY & Durban, KwaZuluNatal Element: Public Ambassador, Element Eden Advocate 2007 Jury Prize Honorable Mention, Nascent Art / New York, NY Public Art 2016 Nippon Club, Tohoku Memorial Installation “Meditation Room” 2015 Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, Josie Robertson Surgery Center “Tides” NYC Montefiore Hospital Lobby Public Commission, Bronx, NYC “Ascension Leaves & Bodhi (Ficus Religiosa Leaf Mandala” Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NYC Painting Installation Lobby ‘Since 911’ Public Memorial Sculpture installed permanently at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Zaha Hadid Aquatic Centre, London Collaboration with Calvin Klein Home, Collective Design Fair, NYC Memorial Sloan Kettering Art Program, Cancer Center NYC “Evenings” 2014 The Queens Museum, ‘Obon’ [Hudson River] Narthex Chapel Installation, Saint Peter’s Church NYC 2012 “Obon: Puerto Rico”, Fist Art Foundation, Puerto Rico. Outdoor, ephemeral public art commission. 2011 “Obon: Temple”, Haein Art Project, Outdoor public commission, 108 luminous resin and phosphorescent cube sculptures for the millennial celebration of The Haeinsa Buddhist Temple, South Korea “Reflectivity”, September 11 Memorial Sculpture made from a 24” piece of World Trade Center Steel, for CalFire California Fire Department. “After 9/11”, September 11 Memorial Sculpture, created from 30 foot pieces of World Trade Center Steel, London UK 2010 “Quietness”, Non Denominational Chapel, San Francisco General Hospital/ / San Francisco
“Obon [Meditation 1-8]“, Thanatopolis Outdoor Memorial Sculpture / Norwalk, CT “Sakura Reichstag”, temporary outdoor installation, invisible luminous paint on snow / Berlin, Germany “Beautiful Night”, Invisible luminous wall mural, Safdi Plaza Realty / Brooklyn, NY “Shelter [Meditation 1-12]“, 40’ installed, The Healing Place Non Denominational Chapel Woman’s Shelter / Louisville, KY
2009 “8-Fold Path” Against The Stream Buddhist Meditation Society / Los Angeles, CA “Let There Be Light”, St. John’s Bread & Life Non Denominational Chapel / New York, NY Residencies 2014 Marble House Artist Residency, Vermont 2014 Smith Andersen Editions Residency, Palo Alto 2012-2013 Bronx Museum AIM Residency 2010 I-Park Outdoor Sculpture Residency, Connecticut 2009 Northern California’s Public Art Academy / San Jose CA Selected Solo Exhibitions 2016 Ginga ("The Silver River" / "Galaxy") and Mandala, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Los Angeles Tasogare/Twilight (The Time of Moonlight, Sunlight and Starlight), Winston Watcher, Seattle Atmosphere, Nancy Toomey Fine Art, San Francisco The Nature of Perception, Sundaram Tagore, New York 2015 Sky/Emptiness (Sora/Ku) Sundaram Tagore Gallery Hong Kong Sky/Emptiness (Sora/Ku) Sundaram Tagore Gallery Singapore Evenings, Madison Galleries, La Jolla, California 2014 Outside Looking In, Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Melbourne, Australia Fleeting Light, Narthex Gallery Saint Peter’s Church, New York Kisetsu (Seasons), Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York Aurora, Mead Carney Fine Art, London Light Metal, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong Cloud-Like Pattern, Lora Schlesinger, Los Angeles 2013 Tides & The Phases of the Moon, K Imperial Gallery / San Francisco Mujo (Impermanence), Sundaram Tagore Gallery / NYC Transformations, Martin Asbaek Gallery & Bang Olufsen / Copenhagen Miya Ando, Dixten Les Docks, Paris 2012 "Meditations" Madison Galleries/La Jolla CA 2011 “The Color of Light” Lora Schlesinger Gallery/ Santa Monica CA “Elements” Galerie Sho Contemporary Art / Tokyo “Reflections” Shibuya Seibu Artspace / Tokyo “Chado: The Way of Tea” Artxchange Gallery / Seattle 2010 “Shinobu” de Castallane Gallery / Brooklyn NY “Meditations”Art Ecology Gallery / Louisville KY “Small Meditative Works”, Lora Schlesinger Gallery / Santa Monica CA 2009 “”Luminous Transcendent”, Bryant Street Gallery / Palo Alto CA “Next Post: 18 Solo Projects”, Rupert Ravens Contemporary / Newark NJ 2008 “Vanishing Point of Departures”, Anne Reed Gallery / Sun Valley ID “Revelation and Reflection”, Bandini Art Gallery / Culver City CA “Introspective Environments”, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art Museum / Staten Island 2007 “Miya Ando”, Edith Caldwell Gallery / Sausalito CA “Miya Ando” Galerie Sho / Tokyo Japan
Selected Group Exhibitions 2016 ABSTRACTION Group Show, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica, CA de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University Sundaram Tagore Gallery, NYC Group Show 2015 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong Winter Group Show 212 Gallery, Miya Ando & Karen Gunderson, Aspen Colorado Winston Wachter Seattle, Summer Group Show Little Piece, ‘Tsuru No Ongaeshi’ Video Installation, Custom House, Ireland Nova Gallery, ‘Do You See What I see’, Manila Philippines Memorial Sloan Kettering, Vantage Points curated by Sarah Campbell, NYC Samurai In Contemporary Culture, Worcester Art Museum 2015 56th Venice Biennale, “Frontiers Reimagined” Exhibition, Museo Di Palazzo Grimani Scope 2015 Tribeca Grand Hotel curated by Natalie Kates 2014 Group Show, Lora Schelsinger Gallery, Los Angeles, California Night Light, Fresh Windows Gallery, Brooklyn, New York Summer Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York 2014 Current Projects at Smith Andersen Editions, Palo Alto Group Show, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica Summer Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong Shock of the New, Mead Carney Gallery, Monte Negro Queens Museum of Art, ‘Raising the Temperature: Art works in environmental reactions”, curated by Luchia Lee 2013 Wutang Exhibition, Wallplay NYC Unseen, Cult Exhibitions/ San Francisco All Of The Above, Church of St Paul The Apostle, New York Surface Tension, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York Summer Group Show, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Los Angeles AIM Biennial, Bronx Museum & Wave Hill, New York, NY (forthcoming) Archives of the Ephemeral: ten interventions in Nature, Escuela de Bellas Artes de Ponce, Puerto Rico 8 Stories, 8 Women, Sundaram Tagore Gallery Hong Kong A Strong Hand That Nonetheless Gets You Nowhere, Kunsthalle Galapagos, New York Limuw: An Ode To The Sea, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum Thinking Like The Universe, K Imperial Gallery, San Francisco & Hatch Gallery, Oakland 2012 The Hermitage, St Petersburg & IMAL Brussels, "Timekeeper" Sagrado Corazon University, "Archives of the Ephemeral: Ten Artistic Interventions in Nature", Puerto Rico Sundaram Tagore Gallery "Installation 1" NYC Galerie Sho Contemporary Art/ New York Armory Fair, New York Shibuya Seibu Gallery "Art Meets New York" Galerie Sho, Tokyo Stories To Wake Up With, The Market Studios Dublin, Ireland Kunstfilmtag, Language Is The House We Live In, Auditorium of the Artists Association Malkasten, Düsseldorf 2011 “Perspectives” Sundaram Tagore Gallery / New York “Wa: The Art of Japan” Gensler Art Gallery / San Francisco “The Cutting Light” exhibition, Galerie Vanessa Quang / Paris France “Wide Open” BWAC, Red Hook, NY Curated by Nate Trotman, Guggenheim
“Misc” Art Finance Partners, New York / NY 2010 “Sweetcake Enso” Travelling Zendo Exhibition, Empty Hand Zendo New Rochelle / NY Village Zendo “The Happy Tree” Monster Children & Element / Sydney Australia “Diversity in Dialogue” Muriel Guepin Gallery / Brooklyn NY “The Art of Light”, Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery / Berlin Germany 2009 “Hypothetical Landscapes”, Janet Kurnatowski / Brooklyn NY “W Hotel”, White Gallery / Times Square NY 2008 “Out of the Blue”, Attleboro Arts Museum / Attleboro MA “Places and Manners of Worship”, Museum of Byzantine Culture / Greece “Theme of Compassion”, ArtXchange Gallery / Seattle, WA “Lack of Desire”, Brooklyn Arts Council / Brooklyn NY 2007 “Duopolis”, Chandra Cerrito Contemporary / Oakland CA “Distilled Moments”, 111 Minna Gallery / San Francisco CA “New Wave Contemporary”, Galerie Sho / Tokyo Japan “Homo Bellicus, A Geneology of War” / Berlin Germany “Director’s Selection”, Edith Caldwell Gallery / Sausalito CA Museums De Saisset Museum, Santa Clara Group Exhibition Queens Museum Group Exhibition Bronx Museum Group Exhibition Aim Biennale The State Hermitage, St Petersburg, Group Exhibition Attleboro Contemporary Museum Group Exhibition Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Solo Exhibition Byzantine Museum, Greece Exhibition Chapman University Collection Speaking Engagements Asia Society Hong Kong “The Nature of Perception” Artist’s Talk Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York “Spark Lecture” 2014 Guest Artist Lecture, Pratt University, February 2013 Fashion Institute of Technology, January 2013, Guest Artist Critic Guest Artist Lecture, Pratt University, October 2012 Visiting Artist Critic, Pratt University, September, 2012 Museum of Contemporary Art, Puerto Rico May, 2012 Artist's Talk and Panel Discussion: 3/11 Japan, Pratt University New York, June 2012 Artist's Talk, The New School, New York "Rethinking Inheritance: Creating Kinship", April 2012 Artist's Talk with Yoko Kobayashi-Baker, Galerie Sho Contemporary Art, Tokyo November 2011 Artist Talk in conjunction with solo exhibition 'Chado' The Way of Tea, Artxchange Gallery, Seattle October 2011 Pratt University, Guest Artist for Karl Chu Architecture, 2011 Artist Talk in Conjunction with Exhibition, Bryant Street Gallery 2009 Visiting Artist Lecture, University of Louisville / November 2009 Cipriani Club Artist Talk / New York NY / /200 Television BBC London News September 5, 2011 London Memorial Unveiling ITV 1 London Tonight “London Memorial Unveiling” September 5, 2011 China Broadcast September 6, 2011 London Memorial
Sky News Austrailia, September 6, 2011 “Miya Ando Commissioned to create ‘After 9/11” Sculpture for London ITV 1 London Today “London Memorial Unveiling” September 5, 2011 “9/11 Artist Miya Ando Documentary” Good Morning Nippon, NHK News Japan, month of September “Brooklyn Artist Debuts 9/11 Memorial Sculpture Across the Pond” NY1 News, September “9/11” Sky News England, September 5, 2011 “Artist Helps Forge Mission of Brooklyn Soup Kitchen” Stephanie Simon, New York One Arts Report, NY1 Television News / 2010 “Subtraction and Steel” Miya Ando Interview on The Morning, Noon and Night Show, Plum TV / 2008 Radio BBC London 94.9 FM September 5, 2011 London Memorial LBC 97.3 London Heart 106.2 London September 5, 2011 BBC Radio Cumbria September 5, 2011 Education 1o Certificate of Completion, Public Art Academy Northern California Apprentice to Master Metal Smith, Hattori Studio / Okayama Japan Yale University, East Asian Studies / New Haven CT UC Berkeley, East Asian Studies BS Magna Cum Laude / Berkeley CA Phi Beta Kappa, Dean’s List