Miya Ando’s meditational, minimalist approach typically uses dyes, heat, sandpaper, acid, and patinas to create subtle abstractions of light and color upon the surfaces of anodised steel or aluminum. The artist’s techniques are a direct outgrowth of her heritage: raised in a temple in Okayama, Japan, she is descended from a family of sword makers turned Buddhist priests. Her recent practice finds her working at Magnolia Editions with master printer Tallulah Terryll, who invited Ando to the studio for a co-published edition that finds the artist expanding her practice to full-color works on paper.

Ando presented possible imagery to Terryll at Magnolia Editions in 2013 and after discussing a number of potential editioning methods, the two decided upon the silver leaf print technique. To create each print, squares of the delicate material are individually hand-applied (with almost superhuman patience and delicacy) to a sheet of Arches cover rag paper in a grid formation; they are then gently, horizontally brushed by hand — first with a soft Chinese ink brush, then with a stiffer brush to remove the excess silver — and finally, overprinted with a precisely calculated gradient of archival acrylic color. Upon completion, a varnish is applied to each print to prevent the silver from tarnishing.

These prints are unmistakably Ando’s while at the same time demonstrating a different side to the artist’s visual vocabulary. Terryll recalls that while she initially presented the artist with full-bleed proofs in her typical square format, Ando instead requested a layout on the page more in keeping with the traditions of printmaking, where the image is framed and offset by the blank page. And although the silver leaf is itself a form of metal, these works do not read as overtly metallic; their brushed surfaces have a soft, subtle shimmer.

Courtesy of Magnolia Editions