Ay-O - ふくろくじゅB (Fukurokuju B)

Modern | Sōsaku Hanga Silkscreen Print

Ay-O reimagines Fukurokuju - one of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods - through his unmistakable rainbow palette. The deity’s famously elongated forehead, long beard, staff and flowing robes are transformed into bands of vivid red, orange, yellow, green and blue, set against an intense blue background with floating abstract forms around him. A wonderfully bold reinterpretation of one of Japan’s most familiar auspicious figures. 🌈🧙♂️

• Year & Edition: 2004 · Ed. of 145 (26/145) (signed, editioned & dated in pencil).
• Medium: Silkscreen on Arches paper.
• Dimensions: Sheet H: 45.50 cm × W: 31.25 cm; Image H: 36.00 cm × W: 25.00 cm.
• Condition: As new; well stored over the years. Beautiful rich, vibrant colour.
  
• Notes: Fukurokuju (福禄寿) is one of Japan’s Shichifukujin (七福神), the Seven Lucky Gods, traditionally associated with happiness, wealth, wisdom and longevity. He is usually recognised by his unusually high forehead, long beard and staff. Ay-O’s 2004 treatment keeps these familiar attributes while completely transforming the figure through the rainbow spectrum central to his work. Fukurokuju B is the バック (background) version, paired with Fukurokuju A, where the figure appears against a white ground. Catalogue Raisonné No. 976(b) 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]