AIKO
New York City
Tokyo-born Lady AIKO interprets the dynamics of sex work, eroticism, and female empowerment in her strip-club installation, equally inspired by Western red-light districts and Japanese shunga (16th-century erotic art). AIKO studied graphic design and filmmaking in Japan but found her medium when she moved to New York City in 1997 and learned American culture through the language of street art, developing a romantic,mixed-media style inspired by graffiti, advertising, Pop Art and traditional Japanese aesthetics. The Brooklyn-based artist continues to create work in the studio as well as public spaces around the world.
Portrait by Ian Reid. BEYOND THE STREETS London, 2023.