Synesthesia: The Art of Aya Takano

Pop art and manga join forces in this long-awaited monograph 

Painter, illustrator, sci-fi writer, and manga artist Aya Takano is one of the main artists of Kaikai Kiki, the artistic production studio created in 2001 by Takashi Murakami. Inspired by all art forms, from erotic stamps of the Edo Period to Impressionism, from Osamu Tezuka to Gustav Klimt, the artist has built a universe all her own. A universe made of infinite worlds, all a means of escaping reality, gravity, and its restraints, to attain a certain form of transcendence.

This book, her first monograph, will explore for the first time all the layers of this multifaceted career.

About the Author:

Aya Takano is a contemporary Japanese artist best known for her involvement with the aesthetics of the Superflat movement and manga art. Takano’s work is recognized for its use of sexually empowering images of women, animals, and often surreal mythology, creating a loose narrative of her artistic persona. Her work is part of a Postmodern tradition in Japan that appropriates popular art forms, using them to represent critical perspectives on Japanese contemporary life. Like Chiho Aoshima and Yoshitomo Nara, Takano’s oeuvre is an example of how artists have developed new modes of expression within Japanese visual culture. Born on December 22, 1976 in Saitama, Japan, she studied at Tama Art University in Tokyo before going to work as an assistant for the artist Takashi Murakami, the founder of the Superflat art movement. Her works are in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, among others. Takano lives and works between Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan.