A descendant of famed sword makers of Bizen, Japan, New York–based artist Miya Ando was raised among swordsmiths and Buddhist priests in a temple in Okayama, Japan. Combining traditional techniques of her ancestry with modern industrial technology, Ando transforms sheets of burnished steel and anodized aluminum into ephemeral abstractions suffused with subtle gradations of color.
For Ando, the paradoxical pairing of spiritual subject matter with metal is intentional. “My work is an exploration into the duality of metal and its ability to convey strength and permanence,” she says, “yet in the same instance to absorb shifting color and capture the fleetingness of light. It reminds us of the transitory nature of all things in life.”
Watch “The Alchemist,” a Tricycle Original Short featuring Miya Ando.