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.
In Prayer by Naho Ito presents a field of softly modulated purples that seem to hover between atmosphere and matter. The image does not depict a recognizable form; instead, it unfolds as a chromatic environment where color becomes both subject and sensation. The painting invites the viewer into a state of contemplation, as if entering a cloud of light, humidity, and time.
Ito’s style can be described as minimal, atmospheric abstraction rooted in the Japanese sense of subtlety and material sensitivity. Rather than building images through gesture or line, she allows tone, moisture, and pigment behavior to shape the surface, creating work that resonates with post-minimalist painting, the emotional nuance of mono no aware, and a meditative, elemental abstraction where color behaves like weather or breath.
Her technique relies on pigments on hemp paper, a material that absorbs, expands, and responds in delicate ways. She layers fine mineral or synthetic pigments in controlled washes and allows the pigments to soak unevenly, forming soft gradients and organic textures that resemble frost, smoke, or distant landscapes while other areas remain smooth and velvety, creating depth within a single hue. Water, timing, and evaporation act as active agents in the process, revealing the natural behavior of the surface rather than hiding it.
The distinctive quality of the work comes from the interaction between loose, finely crushed pigments and the textured hemp fibers, which encourage blooming effects, mottling, and diffused edges, resulting in a matte, powdery depth that could never be achieved with conventional paint alone. In In Prayer, these techniques coalesce into a surface that feels both calm and alive - an invitation to linger in a space where presence, impermanence, and sensitivity to subtle transitions quietly converge.
Artworks
