Ayako Rokkaku
Ayako Rokkaku
From February 2025
A self-taught artist who has been working for close to 20 years, Rokkaku’s artistic process is deeply rooted within instinct and performance; using her bare hands to apply acrylic paint, she transforms physical gestures into vivid imagery. Her signature technique—moulding forms with her fingertips—extends from canvases to glass and bronze sculptures, infusing each medium with her dynamic energy.
SAM is excited to present two new paintings on cardboard that capture Rokkaku’s quintessential style, fusing free-flowing abstract forms, exuberant colour, and figurative elements inspired by Japan’s ‘kawaii’, or ‘cuteness’, culture. A recurring element in her work is the presence of manga-style characters with large eyes and long limbs. The playful imagery of two young girls in these artworks is how Rokkaku expresses her personality within her paintings.
This project is supported by the artist, König Galerie, Berlin & Arndt Art Agency
Ayako Rokkaku portrait, courtesy of the artist & Arndt Art Agency. Photo: Zuzanna Glod
About the Artist
Ayako Rokkaku (b. 1982 Chiba, Japan) lives and works between Berlin, Porto, and Tokyo. Part of a new generation of Japanese artists working internationally, Rokkaku has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at The Long Museum, Shanghai, China, 2023; the Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan, 2020; Museum Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen, Netherlands, 2019; Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2012; and Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2011. In 2015, she exhibited at the Swatch Art Pavilion during the 56th Venice Biennale.
Featured artwork: Ayako Rokkaku, untitled, 2025. © the artist and König Galerie, courtesy Arndt Art Agency
Location: Level 1 Concourse
Free
