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Naho Ito

About

Naho Ito learned Japanese traditional aesthetics and traditional painting materials, such as handmade paper, mineral pigments, sumi-ink, gold and silver foils and glue.
The color materials are called in Japanese Iwa-enogu or Rock painting. Basically Rock painting consists of clay, various minerals, shells of oysters and clams and many other elements that have been used since ancient times. Ito mixes each ingredient with glue with her own fingers. They should be treated very delicately and then pasted to the handmade paper. Moreover, they should be arranged according to seasons. So, one may say that “nature” is only one element of the technique, which Ito enjoys.
 
In Ito's paintings the abstract manner is combined with traditional mineral pigment painting technique on paper. 
Mineral pigments have countless colours, hence each painter can make  their own color palette.  As hundreds years ago she rubs and dissolves each ingredient with  her fingers, then blends them with glue and applies on paper. It allows her to achieve necessary tint, find a balance between colour and texture. This practice is an important part of the artist's work.
 
The artist does not use lines, her works consist entirely of color spots of varying intensity, which are permeated with light and flawless in tinting. They seem to shine through, appear on the surface, gather into color objects, multi-layered traces as reflections and shadows of the reality perceived by the artist. Each color spot applied to the surface of the picture is designed to reflect her thought, emotion or moment. 

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