Ay-O, whose birth name is Takao Iijima, was born in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, in 1931 and is one of Japan’s best-known postwar artists. He participated in several groundbreaking artistic groups and movements in Japan and the United States, and later became known worldwide as the “Rainbow Artist.” In 1953, Ay-O studied in the art department of Tokyo University of Education (now the University of Tsukuba) and joined the Artists’ Association. He moved to New York in 1958 and subsequently became a member of Fluxus through Yoko Ono’s introduction. Ay-O remains active in the international art world and is a pioneer of cross-media and cross-disciplinary experimentation and performance. In the early 1960s, Ay-O began developing a distinctive visual language based on the colors of the rainbow. He has used a range of media, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, and installation art, to present the signature style that grew out of it.

His distinctive style has earned him the name “Rainbow Artist.” The exhibition explores how Ay-O, with his inexhaustible humor, curiosity, and imagination, uses an eclectic approach to extend the universal theme of the rainbow into works of varied forms, concepts, and settings. Selected works by other Fluxus artists will also be on display. Ay-O developed a distinctive artistic language in the period following World War II and during his time with Fluxus. In the 1960s, he joined and became active in the international Fluxus art collective centered in New York. These experiences convinced him that art should be made as accessible to the public as possible. This anti-elitist thinking led Ay-O to develop his signature rainbow motif, which has appeared over the past sixty years on countless canvases and in sculptures and environmental works.

Recent major exhibitions:

October 26–December 7, 2024: Dance of the Rainbow, Whitestone Gallery, Taipei.

June 20–August 10, 2024: Ay-O: Rainbow Magician, Whitestone Gallery, Hong Kong.

April 20–June 9, 2024: Ay-O: Rainbow Fluxus Fanatic, Hiro Hiro Art, Taipei.

December 15, 2023–May 5, 2024: Ay-O: Hong Hong Hong, M+ Museum, Hong Kong.

2021 Nam June Paik Art Center, 백남주아트센터, Yongin, South Korea 《Humor Has It 웃어》

2012: Ay-O: Over the Rainbow Once More, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan.

2012: Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States.

2006: Over the Rainbow: Ay-O Retrospective 1950–2006, Fukui Fine Arts Museum and Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum, Japan.

Artwork dimensions: 72.5 cm x 51 cm

Artwork medium: Screen print, numbered and signed.

Artwork source: American museum

Artwork number: 137

Artwork number: 136

Artwork condition: Yellowing at the lower right and lower left corners.

Medium: signed and numbered screen print.