Miya Ando | Light Metal

ANDO | LIGHT METAL

MIYA ANDO | LIGHT METAL

Mujo (Impermanence), Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, 2013

GALLERY MISSION

Established in 2000, Sundaram Tagore Gallery is devoted to examining the exchange of ideas between Western and nonWestern cultures. We focus on developing exhibitions and hosting not-for-profit events that encourage spiritual, social and aesthetic dialogues. In a world where communication is instant and cultures are colliding and melding as never before, our goal is to provide venues for art that transcend boundaries of all sorts. With alliances across the globe, our interest in cross-cultural exchange extends beyond the visual arts into many other disciplines, including poetry, literature, performance art, film and music.

Miya Ando in her Brooklyn studio, 2013

A descendant of Bizen sword makers, Miya Ando was raised among Buddhist priests in a temple in Okayama, Japan, later settling in California and now working in Brooklyn. Combining traditional techniques of her ancestry with modern industrial technology, she skillfully transforms sheets of burnished steel and anodized aluminum into ephemeral, abstract wall-mounted installations suffused with color.

At the core of Ando’s practice is the transformation of surfaces. She produces light-reflecting gradients on her metal paintings by applying heat, sandpaper, grinders, acid and patinas, irrevocably altering the material’s chemical properties. It’s 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. “I like the idea of using things that are seemingly permanent,” she says. “By applying different techniques, I transform the materials to evoke sky, or water or air—it’s like a transition from the industrial to the natural world.”

Building on this premise of transformation, Ando recently began working with anodized aluminum as well as steel, producing a series of large-scale paintings infused with luminous color—a bespoke palette of muted reds, blues, greens, pinks, purples and gold she conjured from a limited selection of industrial dyes. Ando applies and often hand paints the pigments onto plates of anodized aluminum, which is much lighter than steel, as if they

MIYA ANDO

were watercolors. Anodizing—an industrial process in which sapphire crystals are electroplated to the metal— allows the dyes to bond to the material, producing more vivid color. The resulting patterns subtly evoke ethereal, minimalist landscapes and abstracted metallic horizons.

For Ando, the paradoxical pairing of spiritual subject matter with metal is intentional. Not only is it a way for the artist to connect with her heritage but it is also an exploration into the dichotomy and impermanence of the natural world and the man-made world. She says: “My work is an exploration into the duality of metal and its ability to convey strength and permanence, yet in the same instance absorb shifting color and capture the fleetingnessoflight.Itremindsusofthetransitorynature of all things in life.”

Miya Ando received a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and attended Yale University to study Buddhist iconography and imagery. She apprenticed with a master metalsmith in Japan, followed by a residency at Northern California’s Public Art Academy in 2009. She is the recipient of many awards, including the Bronx Museum AIM Residency in 2013 and the PollockKrasner Foundation Grant in 2012. Her work has been exhibited extensively all over the world, including in a recent show curated by Nat Trotman of the Guggenheim Museum. Miya Ando has produced numerous public commissions, most notably a thirtyfoot-tall commemorative sculpture in London built from World Trade Center steel to mark the ten-year anniversary of 9/11.

The New York-based artist debuts recent work in Light Metal,

her first solo exhibition at Sundaram Tagore Gallery Hong Kong

EPHEMERAL VERMILLION YELLOW

2013 • dye, pigment, lacquer, resin on aluminum plate • 36 x 36 inches

NIGHT YORU GRID

2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 36 x 48 inches

EPHEMERAL COPPER

EPHEMERAL RED

INDIGO TRIPTYCH 2 2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 24 x 72 inches

KIMONO

SUI GETSU KA BLACK RED TRIPTYCH

2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 24 x 72 inches

BLUE PURPLE DIPTYCH 2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 48 x 48 inches

SHIZUKA QUIET 2

2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 40 x 30 inches

EPHEMERAL GREEN

EPHEMERAL INDIGO 4

SUI GETSU KA PINK RED TRIPTYCH

2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 24 x 72 inches

SENTIENT DIPTYCH

2012 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 25.5 x 13 inches

2013

Akari Light 5 10

hand-dyed

2013

Akari Light 5 40

hand-dyed

Akari Light 5 15 AM

2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 24 x 24 inches

Akari Light 5 40 AM

2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum

24 x 24

SUI GETSU KA ( WATER MOON FLOWER ) GRID 2 2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 60 x 72 inches

SPRING ( HARU ) GRID

2013 • dye, pigment, lacquer, resin on aluminum plate • 36 x 36 inches

EPHEMERAL INDIGO Purple

EPHEMERAL PINK

Hakanai Fleeting Orange

2013 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 48 x 24 inches

OCEAN SUTRA 2011 • hand-dyed anodized aluminum • 48 x 48 inches

CURRICULUM VITAE

Born in Los Angeles

Certificate of Completion, Public Art Academy, Northern California

Apprentice to master metal smith, Okayama, Japan East Asian Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut B.S., magna cum laude, East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2014 Raising the Temperature: Art works in environmental reactions, curated by Luchia Lee, Queens Museum of Art, New York

Unseen, Cult Exhibitions, San Francisco

All of the Above, Church of St Paul the Apostle, New York

Surface Tension, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York

2013 Wu-Tang Exhibition, Wallplay, New York

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2014 Light Metal, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong

2013 Tides & Phases of the Moon, K Imperial Gallery,

S an Francisco

Mujo (Impermanence), Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York

Transformations, Martin Asbaek Gallery and Bang & Olufsen, Copenhagen

Miya Ando, Dixten Les Docks, Paris

2012 Meditations, Madison Galleries, La Jolla, California

2011 The Color of Light, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica, California

Elements, Galerie Sho Contemporary Art, Tokyo Reflections, Shibuya Seibu Artspace, Tokyo Chado: The Way of Tea, Artxchange Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2010 Shinobu, de Castallane Gallery, Brooklyn, New York

Meditations, Art Ecology Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky Small Meditative Works, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, S anta Monica, California

2009 Luminous Transcendent, Bryant Street Gallery, Palo Alto, California

Nex t Post: 18 Solo Projects, Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark, New Jersey

2008 Vanishing Point of Departures, Anne Reed Gallery, Sun Valley, Idaho

Revelation and Reflection, Bandini Art Gallery, Culver City, California

Introspective Environments, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art Museum, Staten Island, New York

2007 Miya Ando, Edith Caldwell Gallery, Sausalito, California, and Galerie Sho, Tokyo

Summer Group Show, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Los Angeles

AI M Biennial, Bronx Museum and Wave Hill, New York

Archives of the Ephemeral: Ten Interventions in Nature, Escuela de Bellas Artes de Ponce, Puerto Rico

8 Women/8 Stories, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong

A Strong Hand that Nonetheless Gets You

Nowhere, Kunsthalle Galapagos, New York

Limuw: An O de to the Sea, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, California

Thinking Like the Universe, K Imperial Gallery, San Francisco and Hatch Gallery, Oakland, California

2012 Timekeeper, The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, and iMAL, Brussels

Archives of the Ephemeral: Ten Artistic Interventions

in Nature, Sagrado Corazon University, Puerto Rico

Summer Group Show, Installation 1, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York

Galerie Sho Contemporary Art, New York Armory Fair

Ar t Meets New York, Shibuya Seibu Gallery and Galerie Sho, Tokyo

Stories to Wake up With, The Market Studios, Dublin, Ireland

Language Is the House We Live In, Kunstfilmtag; 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, Galerie Vanessa Quang, Paris Wide Open, curated by Nat Trotman, associate curator, Guggenheim Museum, BWAC, Red Hook, New York

Misc, Art Finance Partners, New York

2010 Sweetcake Enso, travelling zendo exhibition, Empty Hand zendo, New Rochelle, New York

The Happy Tree, Monster Children & Element, Sydney Diversity in Dialogue, Muriel Guepin Gallery, Brooklyn, New York

The Art of Light, Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery, Berlin

2009 Hypothetical Landscapes, Janet Kurnatowski, Brooklyn, New York W Hotel, White Gallery, New York

2008 Out of the Blue, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, Massachusetts

Places and Manners of Worship, Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki, Greece

Theme of Compassion (in collaboration with gathering featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet), ArtXchange Gallery, Seattle, Washington

Lack of Desire, Brooklyn Arts Council, New York

2007 Duopolis, Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, Oakland, California

Distilled Moments, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco New Wave Contemporary, Galerie Sho, Tokyo

A Geneology of War, Homo Bellicus, Berlin Director’s Selection, Edith Caldwell Gallery, Sausalito, California

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS AND EXHIBITIONS

Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut (exhibition)

Byzantine Museum, Athens (exhibition)

Chapman University, Orange, California (collection)

The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (exhibition)

Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, New York (solo exhibition)

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS

2012 Obon: Puerto Rico (outdoor, ephemeral public art commission), Fist Art Foundation, Puerto Rico

2011 Obon: Temple (outdoor public commission), Haein Art Project, one-hundred-eight luminous resin and phosphorescent cube sculptures for the millennial

celebration of the Haeinsa Buddhist Temple, Korea Reflectivity, September 11 memorial sculpture made from a twenty-four-inch piece of World Trade Center steel, for CalFire California Fire Department After 9/11, September 11 memorial sculpture, created from thirty-foot pieces of World Trade Center steel, London

2010 Quietness, Non Denominational Chapel, San Francisco General Hospital

Obon [Meditation 1-8], Thanatopolis Outdoor Memorial Sculpture, Norwalk, Connecticut

Sakura Reichstag (temporary outdoor installation, invisible luminous paint on snow), Berlin Beautiful Night (invisible luminous wall mural), Safdi Plaza Realty, Brooklyn, New York Shelter [Meditation 1-12], forty-feet installed, The Healing Place Non Denominational Chapel Woman’s Shelter, Louisville, Kentucky

2009 8-Fold Path, Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, Los Angeles

Let There Be Light, St. John’s Bread & Life Non Denominational Chapel, New York

HONORS AND AWARDS

2013 Bronx Museum AIM Residency

2012 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant Award

Finalist, Bloom Art Award, Germany

2010 Thanatopolis Special Artist Award and Public Outdoor Commission

Puffin Foundation Grant Award

2009 Fundraiser Co-Chair, The Indigo Youth Movement, New York and Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Public Ambassador, Element Advocate, International print and media campaign

2007 Honorable Mention, Jury Prize, Nascent Art, New York

RESIDENCIES

2012/13 Bronx Museum AIM Residency, New York

2009 Northern California’s Public Art Academy, San Jose, California