following your bliss with aya takano
ISSUE 004: FALL 2025
Interview by Jade
In the middle of this past summer, I was given the opportunity to have a conversation with my longtime here, AYA TAKANO. As we sit in the Perrotin office upstairs, a line wraps around the Los Angeles block downstairs - viewers eagerly wait to see Aya’s newest exhibition, how deep how far we can go….We giggle about teeth gems and konbini snacks and from our conversation I gained the understanding that Aya is shy and sweet, but deeply sensitive and driven - her kindness radiates from within as we talk about resistance against adulthood, fashion’s influence on her work, and her idea of a perfect day.
MAUDLIN: How do you feel about the resurgence of interest in your work amongst young people?
AYA: I don’t really like adults and the structure and the rigidity that comes with adulthood. I feel that maybe the resurgence towards the younger audience might be because they connect to this affinity that I have for feeling free and sort of softer than adulthood necessarily requires.
I'm trying to show a bigger place. I believe there is maybe a much bigger place or state of mind I am trying to show and bring people to such direction. Maybe that is a reason, too.
MAUDLIN: Reflecting back on your collaboration with Issey Miyake in 2004, how does fashion play a part or inspire your work?
AYA: Fashion… I think fashion comes from our spirit, our mind. I really enjoyed watching traditional clothing from Indigenous [Peoples]. I really love them.
I believe that because fashion is part of a projection of the spirit, so anything that comes to fruition comes from fantasy imagination, what you see in your mind - so this comes from your spirit, including fashion, and I think that the indigenous wear clothing, in particular, it’s more inspired by nature and surroundings, and it feels like an organic connection. I think when it comes to high fashion designers I regard costumes and clothing as art pieces as well.
MAUDLIN: Your work explores themes of femininity with most paintings showing scenes of girls in different cityscapes and other worldly environments. Do you see yourself in these characters every time you paint them?
AYA: No..they are not someone, personal, it's inside of us.
[They] are spirits, that they're an embodiment rather than a specific person. So they're not a gender or a type of specific girl or boy. Yeah, it's more of an embodiment of the inside being.
MAUDLIN: When you begin on paintings, do you break up the work into pieces or do you reach a sort of flow state and just do it all at once?
AYA: So it's more of a flow.
MAUDLIN: While working on this series, did you find a deeper connection to your own spirituality?
AYA: Every time, my life journey, everyone's life journey, deepens. Everyone’s.
MAUDLIN: What does a perfect day look like for you?
AYA: Perfect day! I like sunny days..I wake up [to a] sunny day and wake up healthy and my boyfriend, wakes up good. And I want to go to the ocean, I live near the ocean, and…swimming!
MAUDLIN: That is a perfect day. What advice can you give for artists beginning their path in exploring creativity?
AYA: It's like an adventure. Life is like an adventure. Don’t be scared. I want people to deepen themselves. I like the words of Joseph Campbell. He said, "Follow your belief,” and I really love these words. If you follow your beliefs, you will be somewhere you really want to reach.
MAUDLIN: In an old interview, you say, if you follow your bliss, it will get you where you want to go. What brings you bliss right now?
AYA: I really want to…change the world. Not like government people. Think, like, using myths or using stories. Maybe everyone [has to] make new myths for themselves. And if [that] will start, it makes me so happy.
Bonus question.
MAUDLIN: What's your go to konbini snack and drink?
AYA: Konbini! Actually..I don't like convenience stores. I don’t really like konbini foods now..but this one was my favorite as a kid. [MEIJI APOLLO STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATES]