Ay-O
Overview
Ay-O was born Takao Iijima in 1931 in Ibaraki, Japan, and later moved to New York City in the late 1950s. He became a core member of the international avant-garde art movement Fluxus, working alongside founder George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, Emmett Williams, Nam June Paik, and others. He played a pivotal role in spearheading the international recognition of postwar Japanese contemporary art.
Ay-O sought to explore the fusion of all senses—hearing, touch, vision, smell, and taste—within his artworks. This exploration led him to create his famous tactile experience series, “Finger Boxes,” where one can sense sounds or different textures by inserting a finger. From the 1960s onward, Ay-O developed his distinctive artistic expression characterized by rainbows. Known as a “Rainbow Artist,” the rainbow itself was not his thematic focus but rather a representation of “vision” through colors. He employed the concept of the “rainbow” to infuse his works with colors spanning the entire visible spectrum. This approach allows viewers to engage more senses through the visual stimulus, leading to an experience of “multi-sensory” engagement guided by the rainbow.
Ay-O’s works have garnered international acclaim and have been widely collected by institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre Pompidou, the British Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, among others.
Selected Works
All courtesy of Ay-O, Photo by Hiro Hiro Art Space
Related Exhibitions
Press
Chronology
1931
Born in Ibaraki prefecture
1950–1954
Tokyo Kyoiku University (the present University of Tsukuba) Art Department, Tokyo, Japan
1953
Joined the Demokrato Artists Association
Group show “The Second Demokrato Exhibition” at Maruzen Gallery, Tokyo
1954
Teaching at The Third Shimura Junior High School in Itabashi-ku, Tokyo.
1955
Founded Group Jitsuzaisha (The Existentialists) with Masuo Ikeda, Hiroshi Manabe, and Yasushi Horiuchi
First solo show “Young Friends” at Galerie Takemiya, Tokyo
1956
Married Ikuko Yoshida
1958
Moved to the United States
1961
Was introduced to George Maciunas by Yoko Ono, started participating in Fluxus movement
1962
Solo show “Ay-O First One Man Show in U.S.A.” at Gordon’s Fifth Avenue Gallery, New York
1963
Officially joined Fluxus art group
1964
Solo show “Ay-O’s Orange Box Tactile Environment/Finger Box” at Smolin Gallery, New York.
Started “Rainbow Happening” as part of the Fluxus event
1966
“Adam and Eve” (Environmental painting) shown in the Group show “The Seventh Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition” at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Grand Prix at the Third Nagaoka Contemporary Art Award, Japan
Represented Japan with ‘Rainbow Environment No. 3’ at the 33rd Venice Biennial
Appeared in Allan Kaprow’s book “Assemblage, Environments & Happenings” as one of the early environmental artists along with Yayoi Kusama and George Segal.
1967
Special Prize at the Vancouver International Print Biennial, Canada.
1969
The Grand Prix at the 4th Japan Art Festival, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto Prize in the 9th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition, Japan
1970
“Rainbow Environment No. 7 (Tactile Rainbow Room)” exhibited at the World Exposition ’70 in Osaka, Japan
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Prize at the 7th International Biennial Exhibition of Prints, Tokyo
1971
Mr. U. Prize at the 4th Contemporary Japanese Sculpture Exhibition, Japan
The Bridgestone Museum Prize at the 10th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Prize at the 6th Japan Art Festival, New York
The Brazil Bank Prize at the 11th Sao Paulo Biennial, Brazil
1972
Museum of Art, Łódź Prize at the 4th Krakow International Print Biennial, Poland
Prize at the 3rd Exposition Internationale de Dessins Originaux, Rijeka, Croatia
1973
Fluxus “FLUXSHOE” exhibition, Oxford, England
1974
Group show “Japan Show” at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
1975
Secretariat d’Organization Prize at the 11th International Exhibition of Prints, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, (former) Yugoslavia
1976
“Then, Mr. Ay-O Got Drunk by Rainbow—38 silkscreen prints” exhibited and purchased by the Museum of Modern Art, New York
1978
Prize at the 6th Exposition Internationale de Dessins Originaux, Rijeka, Croatia
1979
Solo show “The World of Ay-O” at the Ikeda Museum of 20th Century Art, Japan
1980
Solo show “Ay-O Prints” at the Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan
National Museum of Art, Warsaw Prize at the 1st International Drawing Triennial
National Museum of Art, Wroclaw Prize at the 1st International Drawing Triennial
Medal Prize at the 8th Krakow International Print Biennial, Poland
The Grand Prix at the 2nd Listowel International Print Biennale, Ireland
Prize at the 7th Exposition Internationale de Dessins Originaux, Rijeka, Croatia
1985
The Copper Prize at the 2nd Republic of China International Prints Exhibition, Taiwan
1986
Prize of Excellence at the Seoul International Prints Biennial, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
1987
“Rainbow Happening No. 17” (300 meter Rainbow Eiffel Tower Project), Paris
1990
The 22nd Japan Art Prize at Hotel Okura, Tokyo
1992
Solo show “Ay-O’s Objects and Prints” at the Fukuoka City Art Museum
1995
Awarded Purple Ribbon Prize (紫綬褒章) by the Emperor of Japan
2000
Solo show “Over the Rainbow, Rainbow Rainbow Ay-O” at The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Japan
2004
Solo show “Ay-O” at the Museum of Rainbow, Shimizu, Shizuoka, Japan
2005
Awarded The Order of the Rising Sun (旭日章) from the Japanese Government
2006
Solo show “Over the Rainbow: Ay-O Retrospective 1950-2006” at Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum
2010
Solo show “Ay-O 1950s-2010: A Retrospective” at Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki, Japan
2012
Solo show “Ay-O: Over the Rainbow Once More” at Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (Feb. 4-May 6), Niigata City Art Museum (July 28 – Oct. 8), Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (Nov. 3-Jan. 14, 2013)
2019
Solo show “AY-O: RAINBOW 88” at Karuizawa New Art Museum, Japan
Solo show “AY-O Screenprints by Kenryo Sukeda” at Whitestone Karuizawa, Japan
2022
Solo show “Rainbow: Ay-O Print Exhibition” at Whitestone Taipei, Taiwan
2023
Solo show “Ay-Ō’s Happy Rainbow Hell” at The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC
Solo show “Ay-O: Hong Hong Hong” at M+ Museum, Hong Kong
2024
Solo show “Ay-O: A Rainbow Frenzy” at Hiro Hiro Art Space, Taipei, Taiwan
Collections
MoMA, Centre Pompidou, British Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, Walker Art Center, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Brooklyn Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Portland Art Museum, Harvard Art Museums, M+ Museum, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto, Mori Art Museum, Irish Museum of Modern Art, RISD Museum, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts