Online Exhibition
August 1 –August 31 , 2020
SOLO Exhibition
AYA ABE
Windflower-花言葉は希望-

I drew an anemone as a Japanese painting.
The language of anemone is “hope.
” For the finishing touches, I used a thin handmade Japanese paper (Mino paper) and
expressed the image of anemone. I hope you can feel the nostalgic ambience.

Windflower-18a
Mineral pigment on Japanese paper with nikawa(cow skin glue),finished with handmade MINO(Japanese Washi)paper
9.53 x 13.11 Inch
2018
$370

Windflower-18b
Mineral pigment on Japanese paper with nikawa(cow skin glue),finished with handmade MINO(Japanese Washi)paper
9.53 x 13.11 Inch
2018
$370

Windflower-18c
Mineral pigment on Japanese paper with nikawa(cow skin glue),finished with handmade MINO(Japanese Washi)paper
13.11 x 17.91 Inch
2018
$500

Windflower-18d
Mineral pigment on Japanese paper with nikawa(cow skin glue),finished with handmade MINO(Japanese Washi)paper
7.48 x 10.75 Inch
2018
$240

Windflower-18f
Mineral pigment on Japanese paper with nikawa(cow skin glue),finished with handmade MINO(Japanese Washi)paper
12.4 x 13.19 Inch
2018
$280 (framed)

Windflower-18g
Mineral pigment on Japanese paper with nikawa(cow skin glue),finished with handmade MINO(Japanese Washi)paper
6.22 x 8.94 Inch
2018
$180

Windflower-18h
Mineral pigment on Japanese paper with nikawa(cow skin glue),finished with handmade MINO(Japanese Washi)paper
8.66 x 13.11 Inch
2018
$320

Windflower-18k
Mineral pigment on Japanese paper with nikawa(cow skin glue),finished with handmade MINO(Japanese Washi)paper
17.56 x 17.56Inch
2018
$500 (framed)

Windflower-18o
Mineral pigment on Japanese paper with nikawa(cow skin glue),finished with handmade MINO(Japanese Washi)paper
7.48 x 10.75Inch
2018
$240

AYA ABE
During her high school years, Aya Abe had a love of music, dance and drawing. At that time, her family moved from Japan to Ithaca, New York for one year, and Aya experienced going to a local high school.
As a result, for the first time Aya really thought about her own Japanese culture, and she was able to do so with the perspective of an outsider. And this had a considerable influence on Aya’s decision to major in Japanese painting at university. It takes time to grow familiar and skilled with the materials used in Japanese painting. Because the pigments used in traditional Japanese painting have no adhesive characteristics, one must also use an animal-based glue called “nikawa.” One melts the nikawa, pours pigment powder onto a plate, adds the right amount of melted nikawa, and using the fingers, kneads the mixture well. When it’s cold in winter, one may need to warm the mixture in the palm of one’s hand to prevent the nikawa from solidifying again.
While interacting with her changing art materials, Aya paints the colors she makes in this traditional way on Japanese paper with a brush. She is uncompromising in her commitment to using traditional Japanese art materials, with which she is exploring contemporary Japanese expression of flower themes. Aya’s main exhibitions have included “Floraison et défloraison” (Flowering and deflowering) in 2013 at L’Espace Culturel Bertin Poirée in Paris, France; artexpo New York in 2014; and Florence Biennale 2015 (Xth Edition, Art and the Polis) at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence.