Page 200 - La Biennale di Venezia issue of World of Art Magazine

contemporary artists in la Biennale di Venezia issue MONSTERS OF OUR CIVILIZATION 2, 2009 ACRYLIC ON BUTCHER’S PAPER 90X62.2CM. | 2.9X2 FT.
ANIMA MUNDI, 2017 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 115.5X89 CM. | 3.8X2.9 FT.

BLACKENED SUN, 2010 ACRYLIC-ON-CANVAS 121.9X231.6 CM. | 4X7.6 FT.

DIABLE, 2018 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 99.7X137.2 CM. | 39.25X54 IN.

SETSUKO ONO
Lives and works in Washington, DC, United States
https://www.setsuko-ono.com

Setsuko Ono was born in Tokyo and grew up between Japan,
Europe, and the United States. During her 28-year career at the
World Bank, Setsuko simultaneously pursued formal art education
at the Corcoran School of Art and Design in Washington, D.C., but
only began exhibiting her art once she retired in 2003. She has
exhibited her art in the United States, Cuba, and Japan and her
sculptures remain permanently installed in Baltimore, Havana, and
Tokyo and at the Hara Arc Museum in Shibukawa, Japan.
Dreams, happenstance, and music provide profound inspiration for
Setsuko’s paintings and sculptures. Three musicians influenced her
deeply. In her childhood, her father’s great love of classical music
and the piano made lasting impression. Setsuko vividly remembers
challenging herself to run faster than her father’s piano playing. As a
teenager, she met John Cage and began attending his concerts. One
performance, 4’33”, became a major influence, convincing Setsuko
that chance, random actions, and happenstance should play integral
roles in creation. When her brother-in-law, John Lennon, saw her
sculptures, he encouraged her to pursue her deep passion for art.
Setsuko explored working in a variety of media. She now dedicates
her time to painting in oil and acrylic and specializes in sculpting
in steel. Though the latter is often used in art to suggest heavy
weight, significant strength, and dense mass, Setsuko uses steel to

complement the environment, celebrate resilience, and delight in the
vitality of life by depicting expressive moments of action.
The influences of music and John Cage led to three characteristics in
her body of work regardless of media. She does not plan ahead by
making detailed blueprints or preliminary drawings. She paints and
constructs sculptures by letting chance and happenstance lead her
though each decision of color, brush stroke, weld, cut, or bend. This
generates an ever-varying style. Furthermore, her figures are depicted
in a paused action, as she reveals the movements and liveliness of
flora and fauna, often portraying them flying or dancing. Finally, some
of her works reflect her fierce sense of justice and her deep sorrow for
the victims of wars, poverty, and the destruction of nature.

200 WORLD of ART