Hiro Ando

japanese, b. 1973, Shikoku, Japan | based in Tokyo, Japan
Hiro Ando is a Japanese artist celebrated for his unique sculptural work that is not quite like anything else currently on the market. This multidisciplinary artist creates artworks that facilitate a special conjunction of the old and new. Ando mostly does this by relying on the traditional maneki-neko, standing for “lucky cat” within the Japanese mass culture, a motif Hiro constructs in figures of various forms, such as those of samurai, sumo wrestlers or robots.

The streets of Tokyo and the world of Manga inspire Japanese artist Hiro Ando to create bold, vibrant sculptures. A true polyvalent artist, Ando emerged in 1995 as an illustrator and quickly began executing works in a variety of different media including painting, digital media, sculpture, and video. In 2005 himself and the artist Saori Nakamishi founded the neo-pop artist studio collective “Crazynoodles,

Fueled by endless happenings and rich diversity only a world-class metropolis like Tokyo can offer, Hiro Ando is a Japanese artist celebrated for his unique sculptural work that is not quite like anything else currently on the market. This multidisciplinary artist creates artworks that facilitate a special conjunction of the old and new. Ando mostly does this by relying on the traditional maneki-neko, standing for “lucky cat”within the Japanese mass culture, a motif Hiro constructs in figures of various forms, such as those of samurai, sumo wrestlers or robots.

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2012 Permanent Presentation, Happy Art Gallery, Cannes, France

2012 Permanent Exhibition Sculptures, Galerie Ariel Sibony, Paris France

2012 AnyWhichWay, Galerie BelAirFineArt, Geneve, Geneve, Switzerland

2011 Collective Show, Galerie Alain Daudet, Toulouse, France

2011 CrazyNoodles Show, Galerie Marie Ricco, Calvi, France

2011 Pop Art Show, Galerie des Lices, Saint Tropez, France

2011 Collective Show, Absolute Gallery, Brugge, Belgium

2011 Show CrazyNoodles, Sibman Gallery, Paris, France

2011 ColorFull, Galerie Ariel Sibony, Paris France

2011 ARTAMSTERDAM (ARTFAIR), RAI Edition 28, Amsterdam , The Netherlands

2011 Collective Show, Rize Art Gallery, Naarden, The Netherlands

2010 Nippon Neo Pop in Paris, Galerie Jacob Paulett, Paris, France

2010 CrazyColors, Opera GALLERY, Paris, France

2010 LILLE ART FAIR (ARTFAIR), Palais des Expositions de Lille, Lille, France

2010 ARTAMSTERDAM (ARTFAIR), RAI Edition 26, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2010 Manga in Amsterdam, Willem Kerseboom Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2010 Nippon Collective Show, Galerie Ariel Jakob, Paris, France

2009 From Kyoto to Tokyo, Collective Show, Galerie JacobPaulett, Paris France

2009 The World ... a Cartoon, Willem Kerseboom Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2009 Shogun in PokemonLand, Opera GALLERY, Geneva, Switzerland

2009 ARTPARIS (ARTFAIR), GrandPalais, Paris, France

2009 ARTAMSTERDAM (ARTFAIR), RAI Edition 25, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2009 SCOPE BASEL(ARTFAIR), KASERN Basel, Basel, Switzerland

2009 SCOPE NEW YORK (ARTFAIR), 355 West 36th Street, New York, USA

2009 Nippon 2009, Galerie Ariel Sibony, Paris, France

2009 SLICK PARIS (ARTFAIR), le 104, Paris, France

2008 Tokyo Express, Opera Gallery, London, UK

2008 Inside Japan, La 5eme Galerie, Paris, France

2008 Wonderland, Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Opera Gallery, Hong Kong, China

2008 ARTLONDON (ARTFAIR), Royal Hospital, London, UK

2008 NeoPop Made in JAPAN, Galerie Ariel Sibony, Paris, France

2016 Ando Sculptures Show, Guerrero Fine Art, Barcelona, Sitges, Spain

2016 Permanent Exhibition, TRIBES gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

2016 KAWAI Show, Gallery 32, TelAviv, Israel

2016 Ando Japanese Sculptures Show, Artion Gallery, Greece

2016 Permanent Exhibition, Galerie Alain Daudet, Toulouse, France

2016 Pandasan, Opera Gallery Singapore, Singapore

2016 Ando Sculptures Show, Guerrero Gallery, Miami, USA

2016 Permanent Exhibition, TRIBES gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

2016 Permanent Presentation, Happy Art Gallery, Cannes, France

2016  Collective Show, LTBart Gallery, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

2016 Ando Sculptures Show, ZK Gallery, San Francisco, USA

2016 CrazyNoodles Show, Gallerie Ariel Jakob, Paris, France

2015 Collective Show, Opera Gallery Dubai, Dubai, UAE

2015 PandaSan in Paris, SIBMAN Gallery, Paris, France

2015 Ando Sculptures, Gallery Bel Air Fine Art, Crans Montana, Switzerland

2015 Icons PartII, Gallery 32, TelAviv, Israel

2015 Magnificient Contemporary Art, Opera Gallery Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

2015 Pandasan, Opera Gallery Singapore, Singapore

2015 Collective Show, LTBart Gallery, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

2014 Collective Show, Opera Gallery Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

2014 Pop Sculptures, Opera Gallery Paris, Paris, France

2014 ColorFull, Galerie Ariel Sibony, Paris, France

2014 Collective Show, Opera Gallery Singapore, Singapore

2014 Permanent Presentation, Happy Art Gallery, Cannes, France

2014 Icons, Gallery 32, TelAviv, Israel

2014 Collective Show, Galerie Absolute, Saint Paul de Vence, France

2014 Ando Sculptures Show, SIBMAN Gallery, Paris, France

2014 Permanent Exhibition, BelAirFineArt Geneve, Geneve, Switzerland

2014 Opening Show LTBart Gallery, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

2014 Permanent Exhibition, Galerie Alain Daudet, Toulouse, France

2013 Permanent Exhibition Sculptures, Galerie SIBMAN, Paris France

2013 Nippon Pop Show, SIBMAN Gallery, Paris, France

2013 Opening Collective Show, Gallery32, Tel Aviv, Israel

2013 Mad Show, Maddog Gallery, Ibiza, Spain

2013 Permanent Presentation, Happy Art Gallery, Cannes, France

2012 Pop Art Show, Luca Fine Art, Verbier, Switzerland

2012 Pop Show, Gallery Bel Air Fine Art, Crans Montana, Switzerland

2012 CrazyNoodles Show, Gallerie Ariel Jakob, Paris, France

From art galeries to MUSEUMS

Hiro Ando is an internationally appreciated pioneer in the japanese neo-pop art.
In the last decade the artist dedicated himself with numerous public installations with his infamous cats in Porto Montenegro, Paris, etc.
With recent viewings in collections as the Israel Museum of Jerusalem, he confirms his notoriety again.

SamuraiCat - Hiro Ando, at the Israel Museum of Jerusalem


Mixing tradition with contemporary

Fueled by endless happenings and rich diversity only a world-class metropolis like Tokyo can offer.
The multidisciplinary artist shows great skill and intelligence by taking Japan's oldest traditions through his imagination.
He tells us a new story about his country's ancestors. A positive, colourful new way of seeing the world.

DJ-superstar and art collector Steve Aoki with his SamuraiCat

His auction results are out of this world

Represented by some of the top contemporary fine art galleries in the world, in the last three years the artist have sold numerous times over upon its estimated value.

PANDASAN, Hiro Ando's critically acclaimed concept available at Galerie Sept
SATOMI available at Galerie Sept


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what's a kabuto?
Kabuto (兜, 冑) is a type of helmet first used by ancient Japanese warriors, and in later periods, they became an important part of the traditional Japanese armour worn by the samurai class and their retainers in feudal Japan.

Hiro Ando's Kabuto is a tribute to Kurosawa and his epic often been cited as amongst his finest achievements.
HIRO ANDO
KABUTO "TARO" TAKATORA
50 x 30 x 30 cm
Mix media stainless steel polished and resin painted and varnished.

Akira Kurosawa 黒澤明, was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and producer who directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema.
Kurosawa calls into question a certain drift from Japanese traditions, and from "Gendai-Geki" (literally "contemporary theater"), melodramas or black films inspired by detective novels, which deal with modern and Western subjects.
HIRO ANDO
KABUTO "SABURO" NAOTORA
58 x 50 x 30 cm
Mix media stainless steel polished and resin painted and varnished.

At the age of seventy, after years of consolidating his empire, the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons. Taro, the eldest, will rule, Jiro, his second son, and Saburo will take command of the Second and Third Castles but are expected to obey and support their elder brother. Saburo defies the pledge of obedience and is banished. The central theme of the film is its thematic study of the inheritance of power intergenerationally between a single parent and his three children, but themes of chaos, nihilism, and warfare recur also throughout the film.
HIRO ANDO
KABUTO "JIRO" MASATORA
50 x 30 x 30 cm
Mix media stainless steel polished and resin painted and varnished.

By adding the element of tradition to the popular Japanese culture, Hiro Ando creates an alluring portfolio that is easily paving its own road within the contemporary art world. Likable and easy on the eye, the cat-like sculptures became his signature mark and are uplifting Ando in the current art scene. Posing a new view on the traditional norms, Ando is a modern samurai of the Japanese art.