Ay-O - Do Not Look Back

Modern | Sōsaku Hanga Silkscreen Print

A mesmerising rainbow-striped cat sits poised against a vivid cobalt blue field, its head turned forward in a moment of quiet tension - beckoning viewers to meet its gaze rather than look back. Rendered in Ay-O’s signature gradated bands of colour, this 2001 print balances serene composure with underlying energy. 🐱✨

• Year & Edition: 2001 · Ed. of 200 (81/200) (editioned, signed & dated in pencil to plate).
• Medium: Silkscreen on Arches paper, printed by Tokuzo Okabe.
• Dimensions: Sheet H: 46.30 cm × W: 34.70 cm (Image H: 35.00 cm × W: 25.00 cm).
• Condition: Beautiful; image face unmarked with vibrant, saturated colours; paper clean, crisp & intact (minor handling crease to lower left corner).
• Notes: Part of Ay-O’s 2001 cat suite (#909–914), this “Do Not Look Back” (#912) follows his acclaimed 1978 feline series (“ねこ,” “あくび,” “叫び”). Listed as Raisonné No. 912 in Rainbow Rainbow Rainbow: Ay-O’s Rainbow Prints Catalogue Raisonné 2000–2011 (epjp/ePublishing, 2012).

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]