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Miya Ando is an American post-minimalist artist whose high profile commissions overseas and in the U.S. renders her, according to The New York Times, a “must-see for anyone interested in post-minimalist contemporary art.”  Ando’s polished and chemically treated steelworks reference her lineage as descendent of Bizen sword maker Ando Yoshiro Masakatsu and reflect her East-meets-West heritage. Ando’s most notable public commissions include her work, “8-Fold Path,” in the Against the Stream Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles, “Fiat Lux,” a grid-like art piece for St. John’s Bread and Life in Brooklyn, and, most recently, a 9/11 memorial in London, England. Ando has been featured in various art and media publications including Element Skateboards ads, Nylon, and Audrey magazine.

Early Life
Miya Ando is of half-Japanese and half-Russian heritage and was raised by sword smiths-turned Buddhist priests in a Buddhist temple in Okayama, Japan and in the redwoods of Santa Cruz, California. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in East Asian Studies, Ando attended Yale University to study Buddhist iconography and imagery before apprenticing at the Hattori Studio in Japan.

Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions
Miya Ando has exhibited in locations throughout the U.S. and abroad. Her work appears in many important private and public collections and has been featured in solo exhibitions across New York, California, New Jersey, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tokyo, Japan. In addition to several other U.S. locations, Ando has also exhibited in France, Australia, England, and Germany. Ando’s work has been featured at Aldrich Contemporary, the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, the Byzantine Museum in Greece, and in Chapman University’s private collection.

Public Commissions
In 2009, Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society in Los Angeles, CA commissioned Ando’s piece, “8-Fold Path.” The work consists of a grid of four steel square canvases measuring 4 feet each and serves as a metaphor for the Buddhist Dharma Wheel and 8-fold path. Also in 2009, Ando created “Fiat Lux” (“Let There Be Light”), a grid of 144 individual 5" x 5" steel canvasses for the meditation room in Brooklyn’s St. John’s Bread and Life Soup Kitchen. The newly renovated St. John’s establishment features innovative green designs including a recycling program, Digital Food Pantry, media library, and solar roof. Ando’s latest installation commemorates the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York City’s Twin Towers. Commissioned by the 9/11 London Project Foundation (thisislondon.co.uk) as a permanent addition to Potters Fields Park in London, England, Ando’s sculpture stands eight meters tall and is crafted from polished World Trade Center steel. Ando has also completed public commissions for The Healing Place Non Denominational Chapel Women’s Shelter, Safdi Plaza Realty, the Thanatopolis Exhibition, San Francisco General Hospital, and CalFire. Ando is currently working on commissions for the Haein Art Project in Korea and the Fist Art Foundation in Puerto Rico.

Awards and Philanthropic Collaborations
Ando became an advocate and public ambassador for Element Skateboards’ 2010 International print and media campaign and won the Thanatopolis Special Artist Award and Public Outdoor Commission in 2010. Ando also received grants from the Puffin Foundation and Gilbert Slomowitz Foundation in 2010 and 2011. Ando actively participates in a wide variety of philanthropic collaborations to benefit causes ranging from the environment to humanitarian aid following natural disasters.

Artwork
Miya Ando currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Inspired by nature, geometry, and the interplay of American minimalism and Zen Reductivism, Ando utilizes two- and three-dimensional planes to explore reflectivity and luminosity. Ando’s polished and chemically treated flat metal surfaces create abstract, transcendent environments that evoke such Eastern values as peace, sincerity, and compassion. The meditative, minimalist nature of Ando’s landscapes reflect the serenity of her upbringing as well as her current examination of spirituality within a contemporary, industrial context. The subtle and refined aesthetic of Ando’s work juxtaposes life’s ephemera with the perceived strength and permanence of the metal from which it is made.