Ay-O - CARPS IN STREAM

Modern | Sōsaku Hanga Silkscreen Print

Ay-O’s 1987 silkscreen “Carps in Stream” presents two koi swimming upward through a cascading rainbow current. Their scales shimmer in gradated bands of colour - red, orange, yellow, green, and blue - as they twist in playful rhythm. The vertical surge of rainbow stripes suggests both flowing water and energetic ascent, a vibrant reimagining of a classic Japanese carp motif through Ay-O’s unmistakable palette. 🎏🌈✨

• Year & Edition: 1987 · Ed. of 200 (37/200) (signed & editioned in pencil).
  
• Medium: Silkscreen. Printed on Arches paper by 岡部徳三 Tokuzo Okabe. 
  
• Dimensions: Sheet H: 55.00 cm × W: 38.25 cm.
  
• Condition: Beautiful. Image face unmarked with vibrant, saturated colour. Paper crisp, occasional light/fine fox spotting. 
• Notes: Raisonné No. 595 in Rainbow Rainbow: Ay-O’s Rainbow Prints Catalogue Raisonné 1982-2000 (Abe Publishing, 2004). Ay-O often reinterpreted traditional Japanese themes - here the koi carp, a symbol of perseverance & strength - through his rainbow gradations, fusing folk imagery with pop vibrancy. A beautiful piece.

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]