Born 1931 in Ibaraki Prefecture, Ay-O’s real name is Takao Iijima. He graduated from the Tokyo University of Education in 1954. Still in university in 1953, Ay-O participated in the Demokrato Artist Association established by fellow artist Ei-Q. He co-founded the art group Jitsuzaisha (“The Realists”) with Masuo Ikeda. Since his first visit to the US in 1958 he moved back and forth between America and Japan, and since 1962 actively took part in the avant-garde movement Fluxus. In 1971, he won the prize of the São Paulo Biennial, reflecting his international recognition.

This is one of the artworks inspired by James Finnegan’s novel Finnegans Wake. Around that time, Mr. Ay-O purchased a newly released Japanese translation version.He said, “I rushed to the bookstore, hoping to explore even a little of the incomprehensible world of this novel. As expected, it was utterly bewildering but out of that confusion, these artworks were born.”
The book he bought at that time later became part of a different artwork.