Aya Takano: Unio Mystica

Artist Aya Takano has her solo show “Unio Mystica” at gallery  Perrotin, New York. The multidisciplinary artist works across a varied range of media, such as painting, illustration and manga and is part of the Kaikai Kiki, the artistic production studio created in 2001 by Takashi Murakami.

Her representations draw inspiration from very different sources, ranging from erotic stamps of the Edo Period to impressionism and Gustav Klimt’s oeuvre, to create a new world of fantasy. Skinny and androgynous girls are the main subject of her works, which convey a general disturbing feeling, divided between eroticism and impertinence. In 2001, the tragedy of the violent tsunami which hit the northeastern coasts of Japan has marked a radical change in her research: the artist’s focus shifted to science, producing works marked by a deep respect for nature and human life.