Art, Miya Stanoff

 

Miya Ando Stanoff

This is what she says about herself on her website

http://miyaando.com/

‘’In my work, I create quiet, abstract, meditative environments. Ultimately I am interested in the study of subtraction to the point of purity, simplicity and refinement.

I am Japanese and Russian-American, a descendant of Bizen swordmaker Ando Yoshiro Masakatsu and was raised between two worlds: among sword smiths-turned Buddhist priests in a Buddhist temple in Okayama, Japan and Santa Cruz, California . My familial history, spiritual and philosophical pursuits deeply inform every aspect of my work. I am influenced by meditation, nature, geometry and the ethos and aesthetics of Zen Reductivism.’’

I took a set of minimalistic photos of the sea and sky and as I took them I was thinking how much like paintings they were. These works arn't paintings in the true sense of the word, they have neither paint or canvas.....but they are minimalistic images  representative of seascapes, or maybe landscapes. I didn't find it easy to post images of her work, but there are quite a few examples on her site.

Miya Ando Stanoff produces the most beautiful minimalistic images by using sheets of steel as her starting point. She produces images that are delicate and sensitive from material that is usually associated with structures that are any thing but delicate or sensitive. They look like landscapes, or seascapes, sometimes I think they are more like seascapes because the reflective quality of steel has a fluid feel to it. They are created using chemicals and metal pigments that are etched, glazed, or burned onto a sheet of solid steel. Once she has finished working on the steel she uses layers of lacquer to complete the image.

This is minimalism taken to the extreme, some of her works are shades of metallic grays, sometimes divided by a single 'horizon' line or featuring a line of light to represent light as it appears on water.

 

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Jun 5, '11 I can definitely see these as art works in say a classy office building. The use of steel as a material, and her success in using it, is very excellent.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jun 5, '11 they are almost hypnotic to my eyes and mind. i love them. fabulous choice, Loretta.

delete reply forelithe wrote on Jun 5, '11 These are wonderful works, and are likely even more beautiful viewed in different settings, as stainless steel also reflects the colours around it

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Jun 5, '11 please don't i think it terribly cute :)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 5, '11 nemo4sun said it is :) in fact.................I'll not even rectify my little mistake :-)

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Jun 5, '11 it is :)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 5, '11 nemo4sun said yes you are mad wonderfully mad :-) will take that as a compliment........

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Jun 5, '11 forgetmenot525 said mad me yes you are mad wonderfully mad :)

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jun 5, '11 Interesting and different, I was thinking about your photographs too.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 5, '11 mitchylr said I really like her work. I can see the similarities to those photos you posted recently. Have you tried converting them to B&W? They would probably bear even more of a resemblance to Stanoff's work. I'd be interested to see them if you do. oddly enough It never occurred to me to change them to B/W, its the vivid blocks of colour that mad me want to take them in the first place.But you are right, as B?W images they would be similar and also, they would become totally different images with a different feel...............thanks Mitch I may try that.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Jun 5, '11 I really like her work. I can see the similarities to those photos you posted recently. Have you tried converting them to B&W? They would probably bear even more of a resemblance to Stanoff's work. I'd be interested to see them if you do.

delete reply kathyinozarks wrote on Jun 4, '11 I love the simplicity

delete reply artprevails wrote on Jun 4, '11 Each of her many pieces contain quiet and calm.

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Jun 4, '11 very soothing i like it :)