LONDON.- Japanese artist Setsuko Ono brings her work to London for the first time with two solo exhibitions taking place at The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and Asia House in 2018.

The younger sister of Yoko Ono, Setsuko Ono was born in Tokyo and grew up between Japan, Europe, and the United States. Setsuko worked at the World Bank for 28 years, while pursuing a formal art education in Washington, but she only began exhibiting her art once she retired in 2003. The year of her retirement, Setsuko had her first exhibition at the Eighth Havana Biennial. Since then, Setsuko has had 14 permanent public sculptures installed in Havana, Baltimore, and at Hara Museum in Tokyo and Shinagawa, Japan.

The London exhibitions include both sculpture and mixed media paintings, and visitors will be able to view Setsuko’s permanent installations at Hara Museum in central Tokyo, and Hara Museum ARC in Shinagawa, Japan, using virtual reality goggles.

Setsuko creates steel sculptures characterised by their cut-out shapes, forming opened and closed figures and designs that integrate into the outdoors. The cut-out silhouettes are bent in an animated way, while the cut out negative lets the sunlight and views of nature through.

The delicate, cut out sculptures are created from sheets of steel, which are welded by Setsuko. Inspired by meeting her musical hero John Cage as a teenager, and watching his silent performance 4’33”, Setsuko worked with little planning, detailed blueprints or preliminary drawings.

Setsuko’s recent work includes mixed media paintings that reflect her interest in international politics.