“If the worlds of the technological and the natural have always been in conversation, it has been a contentious one. Miya Ando, whose solo show Tides and Phases of the Moon opens at K. Imperial Fine Art in San Francisco on October 3rd, draws on this essential conflict for her distinctive paintings. On one hand, her process relies heavily on industrial techniques and materials, making use of noxious chemicals, torches, and sometimes electrical current to treat the steel or aluminum sheets she uses as painting surfaces. On the other hand, the images she paints on these sheets are thoughtful and articulate about naturalistic themes including impermanence, transition, and the effects of the environmental systems obscured from our attention in the modern day. Through this juxtaposition, Ando’s paintings pull off an elegant trick—man-made technologies that were designed to limit nature are repurposed as a medium for expressing its influence.”

Read the full article here.

Miya’s show opens at K. Imperial Fine Art on Thursday, October 3rd and runs through November 23rd. You can preview works in show here.

All photos courtesy of L Young and Miya Ando.