Sumo Wrestling 1984

Ay-O’s ‘Sumo Wrestling’ is a print, and in it the wrestlers are rainbow-fied! Look at the radiating bands of color—it feels like the image is emerging out of a psychedelic dream. I imagine Ay-O in the studio, carefully layering each color to create this vibrating rainbow effect. Wrestling with ideas of form and pattern, maybe? What could it have been like to choose the perfect hue for each band, balancing vibrancy with harmony? The rainbow is so often a symbol for optimism, but here there's something more. The wrestlers are captured mid-action, their bodies a mass of swirling color and intense energy. It’s as if Ay-O is saying, “Let’s take something traditional and infuse it with the wild energy of the avant-garde!” It makes me think of the ways artists like Yayoi Kusama were also exploding pattern and color. The conversation between them, the back and forth, must have been so exciting.