Ayako Rokkaku Makes Colorful Creations With Her Hands

Having made her mark at Art Basel Switzerland in 2006, this artist is gaining much popularity for her paintings that are literally made by hand—Ayako Rokkaku paints directly on canvas with her fingers. 

Born in Chiba, Japan in 1982, Ayako Rokkaku produces beautiful and playfully colorful works. To produce her works on paper or canvas, the artist dips her fingers and hands inside jars of paint and applies it directly to the surface, making the works appear more contemporary and free of intricate details and giving them a certain sense of innocence.

Rokkaku often draws little girls with shy faces, rarely smiling or frowning but with mouths indicated by straight lines. The backgrounds are delightfully bright and colorful but abstract and showing no setting in particular. 

Rokkaku won the Scout Prize at Geisai #4 and the Akio Goto Prize at Geisai #9. She has exhibited throughout Europe and at art fairs, where she makes “performance paintings” live and invites audience members to be a part of her world.