A scenarist, Yamada Taichi, talked in an interview about the social conditions of our times in Japan. He referred to recent social problems such as indiscriminate murder and child neglect, and pointed out that in more and more cases, those who cause such incidents usually appear quite “normal”. To sum up his point, although years ago people who got in serious social issues tended to have grown up in so severe a childhood that they had acquired erratic behavior patterns and had even become evil-looking, recent criminals look normal and live ordinary lives. In other words, now it is more difficult to see through mentality or abnormality of people from how they look and what they do.
Yamada’s remarks seem to have a certain connection to a sense of strangeness that I had when I saw Ando Yoko’s recent art works entitled “portrait”. What Yamada indicated has led me to assume that Ando uses the very limitation of Naturalistic representation to imbue vague images with impossibilities of depicting human existence and as a result, there emerges an atmosphere of floating in her paintings. Portraits of women with soft smile on their faces hardly invoke wariness in audience’s mind. Rather, in a contemporary art in Japan, where such gadgets prevail as are overtly “Japanese” or borrowed from cartoon characters, her works could be overlooked as a featureless, anachronistic expression. That may be, though, a trap of her paintings.

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Ando uses the traditional material and technique in Japan, color on silk. The figurative art with this technique is now generally known as “Japanese-style painting”, but it has constituted a far longer tradition than a history of the name “Japanese-style painting”. Ando is sure to be conscious of the fact, which is clear on blurred images of her works. A visual art language Ando has picked up preserves a genealogy of “Mourou-tai”( vague style). Murakami Takashi, who adapted the image structure of artists in Edo period who are classified as in “Kisou-no-Keifu (genealogy of the peculiar)”, revived it today and has gone mainstream with the key word “Superflat”, intentionally overlooked “Mourou-tai”.
Needless to say, Yokoyama Taikan and Hishida Shunso, both bred up by Okakura Tenshin, developed this style of vaguely delineating with the adoption of western-style painting techniques. However, the technique of letting a medium penetrate can be found in Hasagawa Tohaku’s “Shorinzu”(Pine Forest), and also in profound depictions of scenic beauty like “Xiao Xiang Ba Jing” (Eight Views Xiao Xiang) by Mu Qi. Hasegawa had learned a great deal from this form of expression which had been highly valued by feudal lords and masters of ceremonial tea since Muromachi period. It goes back even further to identify the source of the technique, but at least we can see one origin in haze represented in “Senzui Byoubu” (Landscape with Figures Screen) going back to Heian Era at Jingo-ji Temple. The technique was passed on, going through a transformation, to the gilt clouds in “Rakuchu Rakugai zu”(Views In and Around Kyoto) in early modern ages. It is no doubt that Ando employs this technique as a successor of one stream of painting in Japan, well aware of its genealogy.

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Ando’s paintings as a successor of another stream of painting in Japan than a tradition of neat line drawing is my first impression of her works and still remains as my basic appreciation. It, though, gives us no clue to clarify the strangeness mentioned above. The sense of a discomfort has a certain relevance to the question of where Ando’s originality lies. The following will be spared for this question.
First, let me approach the question in terms of technique. As already stated, Ando uses a blurry shading technique suggestive of “Mourou-tai”. Nonetheless, while Yokoyama Taikan depicts spatiality with almost monochromatic shading, Ando compounds three primary colors ,yellow, red, and blue, to exquisitely adjust the tint, and repeat spreading the color until there are dozens of layers. When we take a look at the two from a distance that the whole images can be seen, there are few elements which distinguish the two, but Ando’s depiction produces flavorful tint with subtle shades of colors. Obviously, finely coordinated tone of colors carries great significance in her representation of figures. Furthermore, Yokoyama applies a touch of line drawing to his “Mourou-tai”, and results in sharp-pointed expression. On the other hand, Ando’s style is solely established by delicate representation of colors.
Then, the motif of Ando’s paintings mentioned at the beginning should be considered. Let me notify that it has not been confirmed by the artist herself whether or not the question of impossibilities of rendering human existence is apt. The question should be treated with much care, for it is related to the raison d’etre of her works. But it can be assumed that the title “portrait” implies anonymity and suggests the painter’s attitude to take on the universal being of humanity. If you overview a series of portraits with this assumption in mid, you would notice nationalities of figures in them are not easily identified. Ando’s highly anonymous portraits stand as a mirror that reflects the perception of human beings the individual audience has. A trap of Ando Yoko’s works is awesome in that even if you realize they are mirrors reflecting yourself you cannot help staring at them.

January, 2009