Ay-O - Can You See?

Modern | Sōsaku Hanga Silkscreen Print

Ay-O’s 2000 silkscreen “Can You See?” depicts three small rainbow-banded birds (finches?) perched on a green branch. Their plumage is rendered in vivid gradations of red, yellow, green, and blue, each bird shown with a distinct posture and alert gaze. Ay-O transforms a simple natural motif into a playful study in his signature rainbow palette. 🐦🌈✨

• Year & Edition: 2000 · Ed. of 150 (111/150) (signed, dated & editioned in pencil).
  
• Medium: Silkscreen. Printed on Arches paper by 岡部徳三 Tokuzo Okabe. 
  
• Dimensions: Sheet H: 25.00 cm × W: 33.00 cm.
  
• Condition:  Beautiful. Unmarked with vibrant, saturated colour; paper clean, crisp & intact.
• Notes: Raisonné No. 905. Birds were a recurring subject in Ay-O’s rainbow works - partucular in 2000 where he published a series of small bird (finches/budgie?) themed works (#898-903). This particular design was published alongside a sister print (#903) which was printed on a green background.  

About the Artist

Ay-O (born 1931) is a seminal figure in postwar Japanese avant-garde art, celebrated for his immersive “Rainbow” series of vibrant paintings, silkscreens and installations. Early influences included the Demokrato Artist Association and the Society for Creative Art Education, which fostered his experimental spirit. In the 1960s he joined George Maciunas’s Fluxus movement, collaborating with Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik and Claes Oldenburg on boundary-pushing performances. Ay-O’s playful, multi-sensory use of gradated colour has earned him international acclaim, with major exhibitions at the National Museum of Asian Art (Washington, D.C.) and Kunsthal Aarhus, and works held in the British Museum, MoMA (New York) and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. [ ← View All Works by Ay-O]