Miya Ando Sora | Ku Hong Kong

GALLERY MISSION

Established in 2000, Sundaram Tagore Gallery is devoted to examining the exchange of ideas between Western and non-Western 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

SORA | KU (SKY | EMPTINESS)

Sundaram Tagore Galleries in Hong Kong and Singapore are pleased to present a dual exhibition of recent paintings by New York artist Miya Ando.

A descendant of Bizen sword makers, Ando spent her childhood among Buddhist priests in a temple in Okayama, Japan, and later, in California. Combining traditional techniques of her ancestry with modern industrial technology, Ando skillfully turns sheets of metal into ephemeral, abstract paintings suffused with color. The artist has produced more than ninety new works for these exhibitions, ranging in size from 30 x 30 cm to 182 x 137 cm.

The foundation of Ando’s practice is the transformation of surfaces. She alters a metal’s properties by applying heat, sandpaper, grinders, pigments and chemical substances to produce subtle, light-reflective gradations of texture and color.

Ando’s new paintings are shades of vivid blue, pink, green, gray, orange and gold. It is a palette inspired by nature, which she conjures from a limited selection of industrial pigments and dyes. Combining pigment and urethane, she applies the mixture with a brush to the metal canvas in a layered process. This allows for variations of hue and finish, with some areas of the painting matte and others glossy. To produce a high-gloss finish, she adds additional layers of urethane and resin, which vividly amplify the reflective quality of the metal. Often Ando will subtract layers by sanding and grinding in order to achieve the desired finish. The resulting works subtly evoke ethereal, minimalist landscapes, cloud formations and abstracted metallic horizons.

Ando’s goal has always been to create a relationship between her industrial materials and the natural world. This paradoxical pairing is intentional. Not only is it a

way for the artist, who is highly attuned to nature, to connect with her heritage, but it is also an exploration of impermanence and the passage of time. Ando attributes the Buddhist notion of ku (emptiness) to her paintings before viewer interaction occurs. Viewers counter the notion of ku and complete the painting when they become aware of the fleetingness of time embodied in the gradations of form and color that occur with the shifting of light over the course of the day and the passage of the seasons.

The artist’s use of color also determines the viewer experience. Ando perceives color as light moving at different frequencies. She plays upon this by employing glossy and matte finishes, as well as mineral dust, and contrasting color with glimpses of the metal canvas. The results can be translucent yet opaque, creating a juxtaposition that draws attention to transient moments captured in the painting.

A small selection of earlier paintings on anodized aluminum, in which sapphire crystals are electroplated to the metal, will also be on view in Singapore.

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 a master metalsmith in Japan, followed by a residency at Northern California’s Public Art Academy. Her work has been shown worldwide, including in a show curated by Nat Trotman of the Guggenheim Museum and an exhibition at the Queens Museum, New York. A large installation is currently on view in Frontiers Reimagined, a collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale (www.frontiersreimagined.org).

MiyaAndohasproducednumerouspubliccommissions, most notably a thirty-foot-tall sculpture in London built from World Trade Center steel to mark the ten-year anniversaryof9/11,forwhichshewasrecentlynominated for a DARC Award in Best Light Art Installation. Awards include the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, 2012.

She lives and works in New York.

Black Red, 2014, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 12 x 12 inches/30.5 x 30.5 cm

Faint White Mist, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm

Mist Blue Lavender, 2014, pigment, urethane, resin and dye on aluminum, 12 x 12 inches/30.5 x 30.5 cm

Copper, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm

Dark

Red Orange Yellow Gold, 2015, urethane and pigment on aluminum, 48 x 24 inches/122 x 61 cm

Dark Peridot, 2015, dye, urethane and resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm

Carnelian, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 48 x 24 inches/122 x 61 cm

Flickering Peach, 2014, pigment, urethane, resin, dye and mica mineral dust on aluminum, 12 x 12 inches/30.5 x 30.5 cm

Ephemeral Winter Murasaki Black, 2015, urethane and pigment on aluminum, 48 x 48 inches/122 x 122 cm

Ephemeral Vermillion, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm

Ephemeral Blue Grey Winter, 2015, urethane and pigment on aluminum, 48 x 48 inches/122 x 122 cm

Fuchsia Diptych, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 48 x 48 inches/122 x 122 cm

Gold Diptych, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 24 x 48 inches/61 x 122 cm

Gold, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm

Green Blue Black, 2015, urethane and pigment on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm

Ephemeral Blue Triptych, 2015, urethane and pigment on aluminum, 36 x 108 inches/91.5 x 274.5 cm

Faint Grey Green, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm

Reflection Study 33, 2014, pigment, urethane, resin and dye on aluminum, 12 x 12 inches/30.5 x 30.5 cm

Jade,

and

on aluminum,

x 24 inches/122

cm

Blue Grey, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm

Urushi Lacquer Shadow Blue Light, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 35 x 13 inches/89 x 33 cm

White Fog Diptych, 2015, urethane, pigment and resin on aluminum, 48 x 48 inches/122 x 122 cm

Dark Topaz, 2015, dye, urethane and resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm

MIYA ANDO

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 SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2015 Sora/Ku (Sky/Emptiness), Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Singapore

Sora/Ku (Sky/Emptiness), Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong

Evenings, Madison Galleries, La Jolla, California

2014 Outside Looking In, Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Melbourne 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 Hamon (Cloud-Like Pattern), Lora Schlesinger, Los Angeles

2013 Tides & Phases of the Moon, K Imperial Gallery, San 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, Santa Monica, California

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

Next 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

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2016 de S aisset Museum, Santa Clara University (Forthcoming)

2015 1:1 — Pairings from the Escalette Collection of Art, Doy and Dee Henley Galleria, Chapman University, California

Miya Ando & Karen Gunderson, 212 Gallery, Aspen Colorado

Summer Selections: Miya Ando & Kim Keever, Winston Wachter Seattle

Little Piece, ‘Tsuru No Ongaeshi’ Video Installation, Custom House Studios and Gallery, Ireland

Do You See What I See? Nova Gallery, Manila, Philippines

Vantage Points, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, curated by S arah Campbell, New York

Samurai! Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts

Frontiers Reimagined, 56th La Biennale di Venezia, Museo di Palazzo Grimani, Venice

Scope New York, Tribeca Grand Hotel, curated by Natalie Kates

2014 Group Show, Lora Schelsinger Gallery, Los Angeles

Night Light, Fresh Windows Gallery, Brooklyn, New York

Summer Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York

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

2013 Wu-Tang Exhibition, Wallplay, New York

Unseen, Cult Exhibitions, San Francisco

To Be a Lady, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Singapore

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 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 Ode 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 State 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

Art 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 feat. 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

Attleboro Arts Museum (exhibition)

Bronx Museum (exhibition)

Byzantine Museum, Athens (exhibition)

Chapman University, Orange, California (collection)

De Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University (exhibition) (Forthcoming)

The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (exhibition)

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

Queens Museum, New York (exhibition)

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS

2015 Ascension Leaves & Bodhi (Ficus Religiosa Leaf Mandala), Montefiore Hospital Lobby Public Commission, Bronx, New York

Vantage Points, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York

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, New York

2014 Obon [Hudson River], Queens Museum, New York

Narthex Chapel, Saint Peter’s Church, New York

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 thirtyfoot 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

2015 Invitation to The White House to meet Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Washington D.C

2014 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Spark Series lecture

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

2014 Marble House Artist Residency, Vermont Smith Andersen Editions Residency, Palo Alto

2012/ Bronx Museum AIM Residency, New York

2013

2010 I-Park Outdoor Sculpture Residency, Connecticut

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

SELECTED TELEVISION

BBC London News, London Memorial Unveiling, September 5, 2011

ITV 1 London Tonight, London Memorial Unveiling, September 5, 2011

China Broadcast, London Memorial, September 6, 2011

Sky News Australia, Miya Ando commissioned to create ‘After 9/11” sculpture for London, September 6, 2011

ITV 1 London Today, London Memorial Unveiling, September 5, 2011

Good Morning Nippon, NHK News Japan, 9/11 Artist Miya Ando Documentary, September, 2011

NY1 News, Brooklyn Artist Debuts 9/11 Memorial Sculpture Across the Pond, September 2011

Sky News England, 9/11, September 5, 2011

New York One Arts Report, NY1 Television News (by Stephanie Simon), Artist Helps Forge Mission of Brooklyn Soup Kitchen, 2010

The Morning, Noon and Night Show, Plum TV (interview), Subtraction and Steel, 2008

SELECTED PRESS

2015 Spoon and Tamago, Emptiness The Sky: A Tea House-Inspired Installation Made From Charred Wood by Miya Ando Blouin Artinfo, Calvin Klein Home Designs VIP Lounge for Collective Design Fair

Cadillac Magazine, In Between PMc Magazine, The Plane of Serenity

2014 Wired Magazine, Miya Ando’s Artwork Brings Colour To Sheets of Aluminum

Gotham Magazine, Miya Ando Smile Design Gallery Charity South China Morning Post, Arts Preview, Miya Ando

Art Radar Asia, Light Metal interview with Miya Ando

Artnews, Sundaram Tagore Gallery Singapore ‘To Be A Lady’ exhibition review

Asia Tatler, Miya Ando at Sundaram Tagore Gallery Hong Kong Queens Chronicle, Raising the Temperature at Queens Museum Engadget, Miya Ando & Bang Olufsen

2013 Blouin Artinfo, 10 Art Shows we would like to see in Hong Kong in 2014 Trendhunter, Minimialist-Inspired Speakers – Bang Olufsen & Miya Ando

San Francisco Chronicle, Visual Art Picks for Nov 14 – 17, Miya Ando Tides and Phases of the Moon exhibit

Vice Magazine/The Creators Project, Miya Ando

Bloomberg, Bang & Olufsen by Miya Ando

CNBC, Transformations, An Alliance Forged By Craftsmanship, Miya Ando & Bang Olufsen

Art Asia Pacific Magazine, Singapore Biennial Parallel Events

The Art Newspaper, 9/11 sculpture made from twisted steel column finds home in London

New York Daily News (Front Page), Britain’s 9/11 memorial sculpture languishes in London warehouse

Art News Blog, 9/11 Art

Artreview, 9/11 Sculpture promised permanent London home

BBC News, Rusting 9/11 sculpture to be installed in Olympic Park ITV, 9/11 memorial to be given new home at the Olympic Park

Time Out London, Forgotten 9/11 sculpture finds its place at the Olympic Park

Trend Hunter, Minimalist-Inspired Speakers

Newsweek, Mighty Miya: Artist Miya Ando’s alchemy on display at Sundaram Tagore

Blouin Artinfo, Miya Ando’s burnished metals at Sundaram Tagore Gallery

Modern Metals Magazine, Metal Masterpieces

Artspace Magazine, Artist Miya Ando on her connections to the natural world

Tricycle Magazine, Miya Ando Solo Show Mujo ‘Impermanence’

Studio Visit Magazine, Miya Ando

Wall Street International, Miya Ando: Mujo ‘Impermanence’ at Sundaram Tagore Gallery

Tricycle Magazine, Miya Ando ‘The Alchemist’ studio visit video Artpulse Magazine, Archives of the Ephemeral

Art Radar Journal, Drawing Attention: female artists across Asia XOXO Magazine, Miya Ando Interview

2012 Sculpture Magazine, Commissions in Brief, Miya Ando Obon

Huffington Post, Remembering September 11th, 2001: 20

Artworks Inspired by 9/11, September

Spoon and Tamago, Obon: Miya Ando’s installation of 1000 bioluminescent floating leaves

London Design Journal, Obon Installation: Miya Ando Clam Magazine, Paris, Fresh by Miya Ando

Visual Art Beat Magazine, New Collections: Miya Ando

2011 The Seattle Stranger, Steel like Sky: the twisted memorials and other art by Miya Ando

The Metropolis, Tokyo, Miya Ando Exhibition: Sword smith influenced memorial art

VHS Magazine (Japan), Miya Ando exhibitions

The New York Times, Lost Lives, Diminished Power

CNN, Miya Ando: 9-11 Meets 3-11 in Altered Metal Art

Wall Street Journal, London Unveils 9/11 Memorial Forbes, US Artist Miya Ando poses for photographers after the unveiling of her artwork ‘After 9/11’

BBC News, 9/11 Sculpture Unveiled in Battersea Park Blouin Artinfo, Art Historian Simon Schama on Why He Supports London’s Controversial 9/11 Memorial

NHK News Japan, Miya Ando featured in 9/11 Documentary

The Art Newspaper, World Trade Center Steel in London: A sculpture by the New York artist Miya Ando uses wreckage from the 11 September Attacks

Washington Times, Remnants of Twin Towers find role in London’s 9/11 Memorial

The Telegraph, 6 September 2011

The Telegraph, Boris Johnson: ‘people believe a load of tripe about 9/11’ September

Business Insider, Blinded out Adrenaline Rush

Art in New York City, Perspectives at Sundaram Tagore Gallery Trend Hunter, Impermeable Dressing Gowns Miya Ando Kimono Red Bull, Interview and Studio Visit with Miya Ando MoMA PS1, Studio Visit, Miya Ando

Art Daily, Second coming of Ando Steelworkers

India Times, Miya Ando Art of Light Vice Magazine, Miya Ando Ausstellung Morgen!

LA Times, ‘Meditative Fields’ Miya Ando at Lora Schlesinger Woman Magazine, Miya Ando Women’s Writing

New York Times, Works from New Talent… Nylon Magazine, Miya Ando artist featured in national Campaign for Element

SUNDARAM TAGORE GALLERIES

new york new york hong kong singapore

547 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001 • tel 212 677 4520 fax 212 677 4521 • gallery@sundaramtagore.com

1100 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10028 • tel 212 288 2889

57-59 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong • tel 852 2581 9678 fax 852 2581 9673 • hongkong@sundaramtagore.com

01-05 Gillman Barracks, 5 Lock Road, Singapore 108933 • tel 65 6694 3378 • singapore@sundaramtagore.com

President and curator: Sundaram Tagore

Director, New York: Susan McCaffrey

Director, Hong Kong: Faina Derman

Designer: Russell Whitehead

Contributing editors: Kieran Doherty and Esther Bland

Art consultants: Teresa Kelley, Gabrielle Mattox, Raj Sen, Melanie Taylor, Addison Ying, Chelsea Zhao

WWW.SUNDARAMTAGORE.COM

Text © 2015 Sundaram Tagore Gallery

Photographs © Miya Ando

All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover: Ephemeral Winter Murasaki Black, 2015, urethane and pigment on aluminum, 48 x 48 inches/122 x 122 cm