Ay-O - くじゃくの時間 B (Peacock Time B)

Modern | Sōsaku Hanga Silkscreen Print

Produced in 1977 as the middle work of Ay-O’s three-print “Peacock Time” suite (A–C, Raisonné Nos. 321–323), this screenprint expands on his 1976 Peacock I & II (#310–311). The peacock unfurls its tail in a fan of scalloped rainbow arcs - from fiery red through golden yellow to deep violet - truly “pulling the viewer’s spirit far beyond the sky.” A nod to decorative traditions (Ohara Koson’s peacocks, for example), rendered here in Ay-O’s unmistakeable spectrum. 🦚🌈

• Year & Edition: 1977 · Ed. of 90 (56/90) (signed, editioned & dated in pencil).
• Medium: Screenprint.
• Dimensions: Sheet 76.0 × 56.0 cm.
• Condition: Excellent; colours vivid and unblemished; paper clean, crisp & intact.
• Notes: Raisonné No. 322 (虹 -靉嘔版画全作品集 1954-1979. 久保貞次郎編 | Ay-O’s Rainbow Prints Catalogue Raisonne 1954-1979. Compiled by Sadajiro Kubo | Published by: 叢文社 Sohbun-sha Publishing Company)).

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]