Artist reception: Saturday, January 6th | 5–7pm

Nancy Toomey Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Miya Ando entitled Oborozuki (Moon Obscured by Clouds). Miya Ando's inspiration for this exhibition is the Japanese word Oborozuki, meaning "the moon obscured by clouds." Pieces in the show, Ando's second at Nancy Toomey Fine Art, include a new series of paintings on aluminum entitled Yoake (Dawn), ink on aluminum called Kumo (Cloud), as well as works on paper, Gekkou (Moonlight).

Ando's inspiration for the theme of this exhibition is derived from the oldest known Japanese novel The Tale of Genji. Written by Murasaki Shikibu, the book is composed of minute, poetic observations of nature by it's lead female protagonist, Lady Murasaki. This ancient novel takes as its premise the fundamental interconnectivity of all things, and the fleeting, transitory awareness this recognition engenders. Nature is depicted not as a force, but as the vehicle that inspires in us contemplation and reverie.

The works in this exhibition are an ongoing investigation into time and temporality. Ando employs visual vocabulary drawn from natural phenomena and reimagines it utilizing metal-based materials, as well as a sculptural work on glass. Her paintings of cloud phenomena become a frozen record in time, focusing on the transformative power of shifting light. The works echo the way the sun changes the quality of light in the sky to obscure the true color of everything it strikes.

Created by painting on sheets of aluminum with chemicals and then manipulating color and texture using heat, sandpaper, dyes, and other processes, these works nonetheless contain tremendous spiritual depth. Highly industrial and technically painstaking, Ando's works evoke a meditative quality, born from her own cultural roots and her ongoing Buddhist practice.

The works on paper in this exhibition, entitled Gekkou (the Japanese word for moonlight), continue Ando's exploration of the exchange and relationship between material and the evanescent qualities of nocturnal light. Comprised of silver leaf and pigment on Arches paper, they invite the viewer to recognize the fleeting qualities of light, and of time itself.

Miya Ando is an American artist whose painting and sculpture articulate themes of perception and ones relationship to time. The foundation of her practice is the transformation of surfaces. Ando received a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies Magna Cum Laude from the University of California at Berkeley and continued her studies at Yale University. In 2011 she completed a memorial sculpture for 9/11 in which she utilized a 30 foot tall piece of steel recovered from the World Trade Center Buildings. The memorial sculpture is on permanent view in front of Zaha Hadid's Aquatic Centre in Queen Elizabeth's Olympic Park in London. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the world, including a recent show curated by Nat Trotman of the Guggenheim Museum. A Critic's Pick in Artforum magazine in 2015, Ando is also the recipient of numerous awards including the Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, Thanatopolis Special Artist Award and Public Outdoor Commission Winner, and Puffin Foundation Grant Winner. Her large-scale installation piece Emptiness The Sky (Shou Sugi Ban) was featured in the 2015 Frontiers Reimagined exhibition in the 56th Venice Biennale. Ando's work is included in numerous private and public collections. Most recently, she was commissioned by The Philip Johnson Glass House, and her work was acquired for the permanent contemporary collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).