Japanese artist Aya Takano is known for her paintings populated by androgynous female characters who exist in dreamlike and bizarre settings.
Superflat
Aya Takano’s artworks are associated with the Superflat movement. Founded by Takashi Murakami, whom Takano worked for as an assistant in the early 2000, the Superflat movement proposed a uniquely Japanese contemporary art and culture, one which drew from the aesthetics of manga, anime, and fashion, and more.
Supernatural and futuristic
Aya Takano has also been influenced by her interest in supernatural and futuristic since childhood, when she was an avid reader of science fiction. In Little Stars of City Child (2006), for example, a young girl huddles cushions and stuffed animals before the scene of a night city; what could pass for an airship or a spaceship hovers in the background, tucked behind a tall building.
Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011
Following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011, Aya Takano began to shift her work towards depictions of nature in a reassessment of her life and practice. In the six-metre-wide painting May All Things Dissolve in the Ocean of Bliss (2014), which lent its title to her solo exhibition at Tokyo’s Kaikai Kiki Gallery that year, Takano shows a peaceful and contemplative view of animals and humans by the ocean, with celestial orbs, the galaxy, and flying whales adorning the horizon.
Aya Takano Cosmic Juice and The Jelly Civililzation Chronicle
Blurring the distinction between fine arts and commercial art, Aya Takano has woven her characters and exotic environments into manga. Spaceship EE, published in 2002, follows a young girl named Noshi on her journey to space. The artist’s storytelling continues in Cosmic Juice (2009) and The Jelly Civilization Chronicle (2017).
