Ay-O - モナミ (Monami)

Modern | Sōsaku Hanga Silkscreen Print

Two rainbow-banded kittens sit side by side - one gently nuzzling the other - in this 1988 Ay-O print. Its title, “Monami,” comes from the French mon ami (“my friend”). Issued in an edition of 500 to satisfy demand for his beloved feline works, it glows with vivid, luminescent colour. 🐱❤️

• Year & Edition: 1988 · Ed. of 500 (8/500) (signed, editioned, & dated in pencil).
• Medium: Silkscreen.
• Dimensions: Sheet H: 22.00 cm × W: 31.50 cm.
• Condition: Brilliant, clean & crisp image; bright, luminescent colours; paper fresh & unmarked.
• Notes: Follows Ay-O’s celebrated 1978 cat series—“ねこ” (Cat), “あくび” (Yawn) and “叫び” (Scream); listed as Raisonné No. 615 in 虹―靉嘔版画全作品集 1954–1979 (Rainbow Rainbow: Ay-O’s Rainbow Prints Catalogue Raisonné 1954–1979), compiled by Sadajiro Kubo; Sohbun-sha, 1979.

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]