Shizuka Ando

Shizuka ANDO’s artistic practice focuses on the expression of human emotions and inner psychology. Her works often depict figures in quiet moments of gazing, closing their eyes, or remaining still, creating an atmosphere that hovers between reality and imagination. The faces of her subjects are deliberately left indistinct and without clear identity, allowing her to explore the ambiguity of existence and society’s tendency to define individuals through recognizability. Through her compositions, Ando constructs calm and introspective spaces where viewers can experience a sense of coexistence within the state of not being fully understood.

In her creative process, Ando carefully controls the texture and layering of her materials, achieving a balance between the rough surface of mineral pigments and the translucency of Tengucho-shi paper. The granular quality of the pigments prevents excessive detailing, while the paper’s light-permeable nature produces gentle spatial depth and subtle variations of light and shadow.

Born in 1991 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, Ando graduated from Tama Art University with a major in Japanese painting. Influenced by Surrealism and the concept of the subconscious, her works often adopt dreamlike compositions to express emotional fluidity. Her themes encompass the tenderness, humor, and solitude within human nature, rendered through delicate brushwork that captures the fleeting sensations and imperceptible moments of everyday life.