Miya Ando Stanoff - Artist Statement
I am an artist who utilizes metal finishing techniques on steel panels to create quiet, abstract, meditative environments. Ultimately I am interested in the study of subtraction to the point of purity, simplicity and refinement.
The works are informed by my spiritual, familial and academic experiences along with my continued theoretical and religious pursuits. I am half-Japanese and half-Russian and was raised bilingually and in two distinct cultures; a Buddhist temple in Japan and in mountainous rural Northern California. I was raised amongst sword smiths-turned Buddhist priests, as I am the descendant of Bizen sword maker Ando Yoshiro Masakatsu. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in East Asian Studies, I attended a Masters program at Yale University to pursue my interest in Buddhist Iconography and imagery. My formal academic studies have given me a conceptual foundation for my artworks.
For the past 11 years I have been creating works on steel canvas. My reasons for working with steel are multifold: since the first time I started to work with the medium, I felt a deep appreciation for the dynamic properties of the material. It simultaneously conveys strength and permanence and yet in the same instant appears delicate, fragile, luminous, soft, ethereal. I view the steel as a platform and foundation which supports the aesthetics of the abstract concepts I have been investigating. The medium becomes both a contradiction and juxtaposition for expressing notions of evanescence, including ideas such as the transitory and ephemeral nature of all things, quietude and the underlying impermanence of everything.
I work with a number of metal finishing techniques including patinas, solvents and other chemicals which effect the colorization of the steel. I also use acids to etch and a torch to heat and oxidize the surface of the steel. My other methods include grinding, polishing, burnishing and other sanding techniques. I work with pigments, most of which are derived from metals. Finally, I apply multiple coats of lacquer on the panels. The process is extremely physical, intense, and somewhat violent. It is something I consider a practice and meditation - a way to lose oneself in an activity through concentration via the total absorption of the mind and body on a task.
Recently I have focused my palette and narrowed the fields of my compositions. I am enthralled by the sublime and innumerable shades of grey which are inherent in steel. The subtleties of grey and the manner in which the medium reflects light and shadows communicates emotion in an elegant, understated way. Some of the works feel restrained and austere; some evoke serenity and a feeling of tranquility, while others appear nocturnal, mysterious and moody. These works, which are based on abstracted landscapes, communicate environments of restraint, quietude, solace and meditation. One theme I have been working on has been the fields of nothingness or emptiness, which I regard as empty spaces that are alive and full with potential and possibility. In my new works, I examine the idea that the evanescence of life and impermanence of all things transcends nation and ethnicity and effects all. I employ highly reflective surfaces and subtle colors to explore this idea via mirror-like images. These works evoke the idea of interconnectivity – when the viewer stands in front of the works, they become part of the works, reflected back in these quiet environments.
The Process
I work with cold-rolled steel and begin by fabricating the canvas. I sand the steel, work with acids and patinas which are chemicals that change the color of the steel via a chemical reaction with the surface of the steel. I use a torch to heat the steel and change the color as well. I do several layers of these metal-finishing techniques and lacquer to protect the steel from rusting. Each piece takes several weeks and has 5-10 layers of various processes on them. I always have an exact idea of what I would like the piece to look like before I begin, usually I make drawings or do a tiny piece as a sketch for any larger works. The work requires many hours of hand-sanding and polishing.
I began this body of work in 2000, I had been very interested in Buddhist imagery and Zen thought. I liked the ideas that all things are transitory and the concept of nothingness and emptying the mind. I spent much of my childhood in a Buddhist temple and very much like the practice of meditation and no-thought. The works are a study for me in losing the ego or self in the total absorption in an activity, in my case that would be sanding and the physical repetition of polishing and hand work on the pieces. I am inspired to create images that feel introspective and quiet, endless and still. I try to find balance and harmony in my own self through these works and put forth imagery which may help others to find serenity and tranquility.
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