MARIKO ANDO ARTIST STATEMENT

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“Why Etching Print?”

When I was an art student, I learned copperplate engraving in class. It is a tedious process of making a metal plate, digging in the design, filling it with ink, and printing it out with a press. However, I was fascinated by the tasteful lines that pen drawings could not produce.

After coming to Vancouver, I met Malaspina Printmaking Studio and my printmaking career began. The interaction with so many friendly and wonderful artists was truly worth it.

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“Why Rabbit?”

That question always troubles me.
A Rabbit showed up in my dream one day. It’s true. Then I started to draw them.
I don’t know anymore why I draw rabbits. My hand moves and I draw two long ear creatures automatically.

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“New medium - Oil Painting”

I usually do etching printmaking. I started oil painting few years ago because I always wanted to try it. I didn’t before because of the strong chemical smell and I didn’t have the budget to rent a studio for it.That’s until I found that there are better materials now.

Thanks to technology. A new challenge is always fun.

So , now my rabbits are living in a puffy colorful world. I still love to do etching print making. I'm enjoying the very opposite technique of painting and printmaking.

“I wonder what art means to me.
I think about it.”
The world seems to be running with something stuck in its gears,

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I may have a lot of thoughts, but I can't do something great like painting a precise message and appealing to people.
I can't do something great like appealing to people by painting a precise message.

For me, drawing has been as natural as breathing since I was a child.
I get a great sense of satisfaction when I am able to paint something that is close to the image I have imagined.

I must have been a strange child when I was a young.
I liked to paint alone at home. I was thrilled when my mother would go out and leave me alone.
It was because I could concentrate on my painting. Even if I invited my friends over, I would draw silently and show them what I had done.
We were not allowed to look at each other's work until it was done. It was a nuisance to my friends who were forced to follow these strange rules. 

I have lived for more than half a century. As I get older, my tastes seem to return to those of my childhood.
My gaze returns to my feet again, and I come to love the soil and be moved by the way plants grow, bear fruit, and decay.

I have come to understand a little more about the influence of various microorganisms and the environment on the process of regeneration. I have recently been composting soil, which is a good analogy. I now know how wonderful the earthworms in the ground are and how great they are, something I had never paid attention to before.

Invisible forces, small materials that we don't need are necessary in the natural world.
I am sure that art is like that.

I hope that my paintings gently touch something deep in the hearts of those who see them and bring a little smile to their faces.