About

Ayako Rokkaku was born in Chiba-shi, a town situated in the ‘greater Tokyo’ area. She started to paint in 2002 and quickly started to develop and master her own painting technique. She never attended art school but arrived at her distinct painting style completely auto-didactically. Rokkaku’s iconic style features large, mostly female figures with ambiguous facial expressions full of character. Vividly colored backgrounds, littered with flowers, tiny figures and rainbow-like smears compose a colorful dream world. The large eyes and long arms of her characters fit within the Japanese manga style, while the bright colors and compositions are reminiscent of drawings made by children. Not coincidentally, as Rokkaku always felt a greet affinity for the imagination and lack of rules they display.

Her unique technique, in which she directly applies 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 colorful works of art. She particularly enjoys creating very large paintings of several meters wide and high. Frequently she has performed live painting sessions at art fairs and exhibitions.

Rokkaku has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at The Hangaram Museum of Art in Seoul (2024), The Long Museum, Shanghai, China (2023); the Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan (2020); Museum Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen, Netherlands (2019); Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava, Slovakia (2012); and Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2011). In 2015, she exhibited at the Swatch Art Pavilion during the 56th Venice Biennale