Ay-O

From Democrato to Fluxus Ay-O (Takao Iijima) is a Japanese artist born in 1931, who has been associated with Fluxus since its international beginnings in the 1960s. Ay-O was introduced to George Maciunas by Yoko Ono in 1961 and formally joined Maciunas in Fluxus in 1963. Ay-O was known for his Finger Boxes and for his performance events when he was active in Fluxus. He worked closely with fellow Fluxus artists, George Maciunas, Emmett Williams, Dick Higgins and Nam June Paik. Before joining fluxus Ay-O started his career in the Demokrato Artist Association (　デモクラート　美術家協会　）, created by Ei-Q (瑛九). This association promotes artistic freedom and independence in making art. The influence of these values with Ay-O can be seen in a series of early paintings over which he painted a large X because he thought they were not original enough. An other independent movement got close to Democrato in Japan: Sozo Biiku (創造美育)　by collector Kubo Sadajiro (久保　貞次郞）promoting nurturing freedom when teaching art. Both movements explain Ay-O special's bound with the Fukui prefecture in Japan. Sozo Biiku's approach naturally sometimes promotes some form of Naive Art. Kubo also created the "Small Collector Society" (小コレターの会) to spread art collection in society.
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