Works
The artist Ayako Rokkaku (Japan, 1982) made this statement in an interview at the Geisai art fair in 2006 where she participated with her own stand. Kaikai Kiki, the company of the renowned Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami launched the Geisai art fair to support cutting edge upcoming Japanese artists. Rokkaku has won the Scout Prize at Geisai #4 and the prestigious Akio Goto Prize at Geisai #9. Geisai invited high profile industry experts such as Francois Pinault, owner of auction house Christie’s, and the architect Tadao Ando, who both took part on the panel of judges for the ninth edition of the art market. Artist Yoshimoto Nara and David Ellis formed a jury panel in earlier editions of Geisai.
Ayako Rokkaku was born in Chiba-shi, a town situated in the ‘greater Tokyo’ area. She started to paint in 2002 and mastered her own painting technique. She never attended art school, but is completely self-taught. Rokkaku’s iconic style features large, mostly female figures with candid facial expressions full of character. Vividly coloured backgrounds, littered with flowers, tiny figures and rainbow-like smears compose a colourful and happy dream world. The large eyes and long arms of her characters fit within the Japanese manga style, while the bright colours and compositions remind of drawings made by infants. Not coincidentally, as Rokkaku loves the imagination and lack of rules in children’s drawings.
Her unique technique, directly applying the acrylic paint to the canvas using her bare fingers and hands, is easily recognizable in the dynamic and lively compositions. Not limiting herself to traditional media, Rokkaku just as easily transforms pieces of used cardboard and vintage Louis Vuitton Trunks into colourful works of art. She particularly enjoys creating very large paintings of several meters wide and high. The power of her direct approach to the canvas is optimally manifested in her ‘performance paintings’ which she creates live at art fairs and during exhibitions. As an audience of such a happening we get a chance to be part of her world. Ayako Rokkaku nowadays lives and works alternately in Berlin, Porto, Tokyo and Amsterdam. Since 2006 Gallery Delaive is Ayako Rokkaku’s worldwide representative. She has had (solo) exhibitions in numerous galleries and shown on art fairs in Asia, Europe and the U.S.A. Solo exhibitions in the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and the Meulensteen Danubiana Art Museum in Slovakia attracted thousands of visitors.
Pictures
Ayako Rokkaku | Live Painting Session
Ayako Rokkaku | Overview
PROFILE
1982 Born in Chiba, Japan
2023 Lives and works in Porto. Also has studios in Berlin, Tokyo
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2006 Galerie AAA, Paris, France.
2007 “Walkin’ Around Clouds”, Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2007 Galerie Moderne, Silkeborg, Denmark (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2007 Galerie Teo, Tokyo, Japan (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2008 Galerie Wild, Frankfurt, Germany (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2008 Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2008 Juliana Gallery, Seoul, Korea (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2009 San Carlo Gallery, Milano, Italy (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2009 “Girl in Moment”, Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke- Heist, Belgium (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2010 “About Us”, Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2010 “About Us”, VACANT, Tokyo, Japan (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2011 “Colours in my hand”, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2012 “Where the smell comes from”, Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava, Slovakia (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2014 “Never Ending Love Letter”, Gallery Target, Tokyo, Japan.
2015 Open Studio, Swatch Art Pavilion, Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2015 “Lumpy Fluffy Splatter”, Gallery Trax, Yamanashi, Japan.
2016 “Sealed Reminiscence”, Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2017 “Obscura”, Gallery Target, Tokyo, Japan.
2018 “Bright wind, another step”, Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2018 “Perpetual Colors”, Phillips, Hong Kong, China (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2019 “Fumble in colors, tiny discoveries”, Museum Jan, Amstelveen, The Netherlands (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive)
2020 “Magic Hand”, Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan.
2021 “Phantom Thief Stray Junkie”, Gallery Trax, Yamanashi, Japan.
2021 “Born in the Fluffy Journey”, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive)
2022 “Burrow & Pop Up”, Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2022 “Ayako Rokkaku. Works from 2006-2022”. Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2023 “Close to your Treasure”. Long museum, Shanghai, China.
2023 “Dreams in my hand”, Hangaram Arts Center Museum, Seoul, South-Korea (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2006 Tokyo Girls Collection, Yoyogi Taikukan, Tokyo, Japan.
2006 Tokyo GG Night, Hotel Claska, Tokyo, Japan.
2010 “Manga in Amsterdam”, Willem Kerseboom gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2011 Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, China (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2012 Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, China (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2012 Pop Art Accrochage, Fluegel-Roncak Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany.
2014 Museum Jan, Amstelveen, The Netherlands (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive).
2014 “Faces and Traces”, The Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive)
2015 Swatch loves Art, Hong Kong (in collaboration with Gallery Delaive)
2017 “Cool Japan”, Volkenkundig Museum Leiden, The Netherlands
2017 Cat Love. Nine lives in the art, Kunsthal Rotterdam
2018 “25th Anniversary in Gallery Trax vol.I”, Gallery Trax, Yamanashi, Japan
2020 “Oketa Collection: A new decade, Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Japan
ART FAIRS
2006 GEISAI #9, Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan.
2006 Art Basel Volta Show02, Basel, Switzerland (group).
2006 GEISAI #10, Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan.
2006 Nada Art Fair, The Ice Palace, Miami, USA.
2007 Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany (Gallery Delaive).
2007 Hotel Agnes Art Fair, Tokyo, Japan.
2007 Art Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Gallery Delaive).
2007 Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai, China (Gallery Delaive).
2007 Art Singapore, Singapore (Gallery Delaive).
2008 Art Fair Tokyo: Tokyo international Forum, Tokyo, Japan (solo).
2008 Art Taipei, Taiwan, (Gallery Delaive).
2008 Art Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Gallery Delaive).
2008 Art Asia Fair, Miami, USA, (Gallery Delaive)
2009 Art Fair Tokyo: Tokyo international Forum, Tokyo, Japan (Gallery Delaive) (solo)
2009 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2009 Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Gallery Delaive)
2009 Art Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive) (solo)
2010 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2010 Art Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2010 Scope Basel, Basel, Switzerland, (Gallery Delaive)
2011 Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany, (Gallery Delaive)
2011 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2012 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2012 Art Paris, Paris, France, (Gallery Delaive)
2012 Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany, (Gallery Delaive)
2013 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2013 Art Miami, Miami, USA, (Gallery Delaive)
2013 Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong (Gallery Delaive)
2014 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2014 Art Miami, Miami, USA, (Gallery Delaive)
2015 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2015 Art Miami, Miami, USA, (Gallery Delaive)
2016 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2016 Art New York, New York, USA, (Gallery Delaive)
2017 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2017 Art Fair Tokyo 2017, Tokyo, Japan
2018 TEFAF, Maastricht, The Netherlands, (Gallery Delaive)
2018 KunstRAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Gallery Delaive)
2018 ComplexCon, Los Angeles, USA, (Gallery Delaive) (solo)
2019 KunstRAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Gallery Delaive)
2019 Art Miami, Miami, USA, (Gallery Delaive)
2020 VOLTA, New York, USA, (Gallery Delaive)
2023 KIAF, Seoul, South-Korea, (Gallery Delaive)
2024 Volta, Basel, Switzerland, (Gallery Delaive)
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Oketa Collection, Japan
Powerlong Art Museum, Shanghai, China
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Karuiuzawa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Sehwa Museum of Art / Sehwa Art and Culture Foundation, Seoul, South Korea
Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, Japan
Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, The Netherlands
Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
PUBLICATIONS
2007 “Walkin’ Around Clouds”, Gallery Delaive, Exhibition Catalogue
2007 “Ayako Rokkaku”, Galerie Moderne Silkeborg, Exhibition Catalogue
2009 “Amsterdam-Tokyo”, Gallery Delaive, Exhibition Catalogue
2011 “About Us”, Contrarede, Picture Book and DVD
2011 “Colours in My Hand”, Kunsthal Museum Rotterdam, Exhibition Catalogue
2012 “Where the Smell Coes from”, Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Exhibition Catalogue
2013 “いっぱいいもうと”, 福音館書店, Picture book
2018 “Bright wind, another step”, Gallery Delaive, Exhibition Catalogue
2019 “Fumble in colors, tiny discoveries”, Gallery Delaive, Exhibition Catalogue
2020 “Magic Hand”, Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, Exhibition Catalogue
2023 “Ayako Rokkaku, Works from 2006 – 2021”
