Hiro Ando

Hiro Ando develops a Japanese Neo-Pop vocabulary around recurring feline figures, including Samuraicat, Sumocat and Warriorcat. His Tokyo studio presents sculptures in resin and polished stainless steel alongside paintings and illuminated works. Traditional symbolic references meet the visual language of contemporary urban culture, with the same characters changing appearance as their materials and surroundings change. The archive is particularly useful for following that movement between a freestanding object and a painted scene. In the Samuraicat Serenades paintings, the figure enters nocturnal Tokyo settings; other works use black plexiglass and LED illumination. Comparing these treatments reveals how a recognizable silhouette can carry different spatial and emotional effects. Readers can approach the practice through a character series, then follow its variations across sculpture, painting and light.