MIYA ANDO - THE NATURE OF PERCEPTION

Sundaram Tagore Chelsea is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings and sculptural installations by New York-based artist Miya Ando.
 
Transformation—both in the physical and the metaphysical sense—is the unifying element of the work in this exhibition. To produce the light-reflecting gradients on her metal paintings, Ando applies heat, sandpaper, grinders and acid to the metal canvases, irrevocably altering the material’s chemical properties. It is by an almost meditative daily repetition of these techniques that Ando is able to subtract, reduce and distill her concept until it reaches its simplest form. The resulting works explore the duality of metal and its ability to convey strength and permanence, yet in the same instance, capture the fleetingness of light.
 
For this exhibition, Ando is introducing two new bodies of work that build on the concept of transformation. The first is the Phenomenon series, characterized by an understated iridescence, where the surface of the metal painting appears to change color depending on light and movement. Ando’s second new series, Kintsugi, was inspired by a centuries-old Japanese form of restoration. Kintsugi, which translates as “gold joinery,” is a process in which a mixture of lacquer and gold dust is used to patch cracks in broken pottery. It is a method not meant to disguise flaws, but rather emphasize them as part of a piece’s history. Ando employs a process similar to this ancient technique to fill crevices between slats of shou-sugi-ban, a charred wood often used as an exterior building material in Okayama. 

Additionally, Ando is presenting new Hamon paintings, a series she’s been working on for the past decade, which examines the transitory nature of things. The name refers to an ancient sword-smithing technique unique to Japan in which the repetitive process of quenching and tempering a forged blade results in a cloud-like pattern along the edge of the sword. Subtly echoing the ephemeral, abstracted landscapes of the artist’s earlier works, the Hamon series explores the juxtaposition of seemingly opposing forces—in this case, a poetic visual element gilding an object intended to end human life. 

Miya Ando has a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and attended Yale University to study Buddhist iconography and imagery. She apprenticed with the master metalsmith Hattori Studio in Japan, followed by a residency at Northern California’s Public Art Academy. Her work has been shown worldwide, including at the de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, California; in a show curated by Nat Trotman of the Guggenheim Museum; and an exhibition at the Queens Museum, New York. In 2015, a large shou-sugi-ban installation by the artist was featured in Frontiers Reimagined, a collateral event of the Venice Biennale, and a large-scale suspended installation was permanently installed at Montefiore Hospital, New York.