Ayako Rokkaku ロッカクアヤコ (1982, Japan)

Ayako Rokkaku was born in Chiba in 1982. Rokkaku never attended art school, her technique is self taught. She started to paint in 2002 and has exhibited at many art fairs. About these participations at fairs and other events in her daily life Rokkaku keeps a web log. Keeping such a dairy on the internet gives the viewer the unique opportunity to peek inside the private 'girly' mind of a young Japanese artist.

Rokkaku has mastered her own painting technique, she does not use a brush. She applies acrylic paints using only her fingers and hands on canvas. This makes the artwork appear far more contemporary and often free of most intricate details.

The adolescent children, the main subject in her work, are mostly illustrated from close-up. The long arms and big eyes are made in the style of Japanese Anime which is emphasized by the use of bright colours and simple details. Rokkaku does not place the children in front of a background, which is not very obvious at a first glance since the figures are portrayed in various poses; sitting, running, lying. It is this innocent portrait of dynamic refrained from details that form the essence of Rokkaku's work. The power of her direct approach to the canvas is optimal manifested in her 'performance paintings' which she creates live at art fairs, as an audience of such a happening we get the chance to be part of her world.

'…I want to keep drawing for as long as possible". - Ayako Rokkaku, 2006.

Rokkaku made this statement in an interview at the Geisai* art fair in 2006 where she participated with here own stand. Rokkaku has won the Scout Prize at Geisai # 4 and the prestigious Akio Goto Prize at Geisai # 9. Geisai invited high profile industry experts such as Francois Pinault, owner of auction house Christie's, and the architect Tadao Ando who both took part of the panel of judges for the ninth edition of the art market. Artist Yoshimoto Nara and David Ellis formed a jury panel in earlier editions of Geisai.

* 'Geisai', the one-of-a-kind art fair conceived by Takashi Murakami to support cutting edge upcoming artists. It allows artists to represent themselves and present their work directly to an audience of collectors, art professionals and art enthusiasts in a professional art fair setting.