Motifs such as ghosts and cheap toys appear in the paintings of Aya Ito. It is not only caused by the absurdity of the motifs, but gradually the viewers are confused. Each motif seems to be collaged with an impression depth and as a whole, the painting has an original sense of winding space.
This derives from her original process of creation. Ito first sets her canvas paintings, paper drawings, ceramic sculptures, fabric and furniture in a room to make a diorama. Sometimes the size exceeds 5 meters in width, height and depth. Ito steps into the world of her diorama, and by taking photographs, she can examine the compositions, angles and visual effects that she discovers unexpectedly. Then later she moves on to creating the actual painting.
This minute process which she calls “photo drawing”creates a richly detailed reality. On the other hand, the sea of colors spread all over as if to invalid the use of space, and the languishing expressions of the motifs altogether draw the viewers into its addictive charms.

Aya Ito was born in Wakayama, in 1987. She received an M.F.A. from Kyoto City University of Arts, Graduate School of Art in 2011. She currently lives and works in Wakayama.
Ito received the Suntory Award at Art Camp in Kunst-Bau 2007 (the Suntory Museum in Tempozan, Osaka) and the shu uemura Prize and Yuko Hasegawa Judge’s Prize at Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi 2011. Her major group exhibitions include “VOCA 2010” (the Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo) and “RESONANCE” (2010, the Suntory Museum in Tempozan, Osaka). She is currently participating in “Really Realistic Reality” at the Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama which runs until 10th May.