Ay-O: Rainbow Mandala. October 4 to November 3, 2001

Ay-O: Rainbow Mandala
October 4 to November 3, 2001
Reception for artist: Thursday, October 4th, 6-8pm

Emily Harvey Gallery
537 Broadway at Spring (2nd floor)
New York, NY 10012
Tel. 212 925-7651
Fax 212 966-0439

Ay-O, one of Japan's most innovative artists, has oven-baked a stunning series of tasty new paintings for his exhibition, Rainbow Mandala, at the Emily Harvey Gallery. These eye-catching representations of tits, large and small, like most of his prints, paintings and sculptures, are rendered in the color bands of the spectrum.

These new works have evolved from the veteran Fluxus artist's "Boil and Fry" performances in New York in the early sixties, and, more recently, his conversion of objets trouvées including several antique violins, a portable TV, plastic rainbow trout and pages from Goethe's "Faust, Part 1", into objets d'art by coating them with tempura batter and deep-frying them.

He says that TITS MANDALA, one of the largest works in the show, evokes for him "the sound of the heart, the fragrance of the earth, the taste of the world, the most delightful touch of the universe, and my rainbow, a mandala I have prayed to for most of my life." These sensuous and sensual baked paintings justify his lifetime decision to forego line and form and put the rainbow to work on the objects around him, transforming them into events.

One of the leading Japanese-born modern artists of the postwar period, Ay-O represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in l966 and the Sao Paolo Biennale in l97l. He also built the famed Tactile Rainbow at the Osaka World's Fair in 1970.

Ay-O has been a vital member of the international Fluxus group since it began almost four decades ago. His Finger Box series became an icon of Fluxus exhibitions and his performance events provided some of the most memorable images of the Fluxus festivals and concerts.


Press Release 18 September 2001