Miya Ando

Steel might be known for being an element of reinforcement, security, power that can mutate into negative fields of confinement, impermeability or even an agent of death. Brooklyn-based Miya Ando revels in the inherent paradoxes of steel as something that can be hard and soft, colorful and bland, invincible and vulnerable. Ando injects her Japanese heritage into her work, often commenting on the numerous cultural parallels persisting even in the current, 'hyper-informed' contemporary moment. Her public commissions include two separate 9/11 Memorials (made from recovered steel from the WTC site, itself) in London and San Francisco (for the CalFire California Fire Department) and two large-scale projects for Buddhist temples in South Korea and Los Angeles. Ando's work has appeared in Sculpture, The New York Times, Forbes, ABC News, The Telegraph, The Guardian and FlashArt International.