Ay-O - Rainbow Angel

Modern | Sōsaku Hanga Silkscreen Print

Ay-O traced the silhouette of his daughter Hanako (four months old) as she lay on the floor, then transformed her form into a soaring angel of pure spectrum. Horizontal bands of rainbow colour fill the background and define the figure’s wings, body and raised hand - an intimate birth-tribute rendered in 1971’s gentle yet radiant palette. 👶🌈

• Year & Edition: 1971 · Ed. of 55 (54/55) (signed, editioned, & dated in pencil).
• Medium: Silkscreen.
• Dimensions: Sheet H: 76.00 cm × W: 56.50 cm.
• Condition: Fantastic for its age; very minor fading to the brightest hues.
• Notes: Drawing inspiration from work by 野田哲也 (Tetsuya Noda) capturing his own newborn, Ay-O traced Hanako’s shape and created two rainbow-coloured tributes—“Rainbow Baby” (Raisonné No. 199) and this “Rainbow Angel” (Raisonné No. 200). Documented in 虹のかなたに―靉嘔AY-O回顧 (Over the Rainbow: Ay-O Retrospective 1960–2006), plate 43. Listed as Raisonné No. 200 in 虹―靉嘔版画全作品集 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]