Saeko Ando

 Saeko Ando
Photo by Hitoshi Hayashi Graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo 1992. Studied Japanese art and philosophy. Final thesis on
Japanism movement in European arts and crafts
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Studied modern Vietnamese lacquer painting under the tutelage of Trinh Tuan (1996~1997)
Studied traditional Vietnamese lacquer craftsmanship and painting techniques under the tutelage
of Doan Chi Trung (1998~1999) and Nguyen Huy Hoan (1999~2004)
Studied traditional Vietnamese lacquer “Voc” base making under the tutelage of Lam Huu Chinh
(2007~2010
Saeko has travelled widely and has been inspired by the wide range of arts she encountered. But nothing else had
captivated her so strongly as Vietnamese Fine Art lacquer painting - Son Mai - a unique and new art form which
was the result of collaboration between craftsmen and French artists during the Colonial era. In 1995, she moved
to Vietnam to learn lacquer art.
She discovered the amazing potential of the natural lacquer and has devoted herself to the preservation and
promotion of this time-honoured art. It has become rarer in recent times in the face of competition from
artificial lacquer. In the process she has been merging Vietnamese lacquer techniques and the techniques from
other art forms she have encountered, integrating tradition with innovation. Saeko's eccentric style gained
respect within Vietnam’s Art Society and she was given the honour of being accepted as the first foreign
member of the Hanoi Art Association in 2000.
For the past 20 years, Saeko has been creating lacquer paintings and exhibiting them in Vietnam and overseas.
She is also a researcher on lacquer art in Asian countries including Japan, Taiwan, Myanmar, Thailand,
Cambodia and Vietnam, and shares her research findings with the public through professional lecture
programmes, conventions and symposia.
Saeko Ando
Exhibitions 1998 :
Heads or Tails - Café Des Arts, Hanoi, Vietnam 1999 :
SsssshhhhH! - Hotel Nikko, Hanoi, Vietnam
Vietnamese Lacquer painting - group exhibition at Fujita Vente, Tokyo,
2000 :
Chao Dong Chi! - Mayfair Apartment, Hanoi, Vietnam
ThoatXac - Indochina Park Tower, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Hanoi Metropolitan Art Exhibition - group - Trang Tien Exhibition Centre,
Hanoi
2001 :
Vietnam Tale - Gallery Shimada, Kobe, Kissho-do Gallery, Kyoto and Tokyu
Hotel, Nagoya, Japan
2004 :
Texture of Life - group show - Cay Son Gallery, Hanoi,
2006 :
World of Vietnamese Lacquer painting - Group show - Kyoto, Tokyo and
Sapporo
2010 :
Petit Exhibition at UZU Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam
2011 :
Women, Art, Hanoi - Maison des Arts, Hanoi
Open Lacquer- group show as a part of Here, There and Everywhere project
by
Trans Cultural Exchange at Hampden Gallery, Massachusetts, America
Female Urushi Artists’ Solidarity with the people of Tohoku - Aizu
Urushi Art Festival, Fukushima, Japan
2012 :
Resonant Uruwashi, - International female lacquer artist exhibition ,Tokyo,
Kyoto and Fukushima, Japan(2012)
2013 : “JAPAN IN ME” at the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam,
Hanoi, Vietnam
2014 :
Exhibition commemorating the final year of Asian Lacquer Craft Exchange
Research Project at Lacquerware Technology College, Bagan, Myanmar
Asian Art in London , London, U.K