Aya Kawato

As for control, the artist describes it as an extreme focus to proceed according to the plan while trying to anticipate the reaction of the material. Those unevenness or misalignments that reveal the artist's nature, the technique, and the material, are not perceived as imperfections; to the contrary, she describes them as “beauty beyond human control”. 

Aya Kawato majored at first in textiles at Kyoto Seika University before obtaining her doctoral degree in Intermedia Art at Tokyo University of the Arts. Since then, she conceives two-dimensional works that she calls “grid paintings”. Using wooden panels, acrylic and masking tape, she creates works that fuse technology, science, and Japanese traditional weaving and dyeing techniques she learnt during her textile’s practice studies. When Aya starts a painting, she does not have an image of the whole picture, it evolves gradually, the size and the colours affect the rendering image until the work is completed. Using acrylic makes it possible to apply multiple layers without them fusing. Applying the colours’ theory creates more vivid tints with a special vibrancy and a depth; a technique she discovered through the dyeing of textiles. Her grid paintings comprise lines no wider than five millimetres. 

The viewer’s perceptions subtly fluctuate depending on the distance and the viewing angle, but also on his own state of mind, the light, and the work’s environment. At first glance, Aya’s works give the impression of having been created digitally, but they are painted manually and although roughly flat, her works give a distinctive sense of depth and a special warmth at geometric grids. Looking closer, the viewer discovers the unevenness in the paint and the traces left by the artist’s brushstrokes.