RYŌANJI INSTALLATION (Mono no Aware Solo Exhibition curated by Anthony Vaccarello) at Saint Laurent Rive Droite Los Angeles.
Charred Reclaimed Redwood, Silver Nitrate, White Stones
156 x 240 x 156 in (396.24 x 609.6 x 396.24 cm)
2025
Location: Saint Laurent Rive Droite | Beverly Hills
Miya Ando’s Ryoanji was a site specific installation created for the Saint Laurent Rive Droite Los Angeles space for the exhibition Mono no Aware curated by Anthony Vaccarello. This installation constructs an environment in which material, atmosphere, and absence act as equal agents of philosophical inquiry. The work reimagines the karesansui (dry landscape) garden of Ryoanji Temple (龍安寺) in Kyoto, long regarded as one of the most rigorous visual articulations of Zen thought. The historic garden comprises fifteen stones, positioned so they can never be seen all at once. Set in meticulously raked gravel, they form a spatial composition of formal restraint and perceptual ambiguity. Ryoanji reduced nature to its essence, evoking landscape rather than imitating it, an approach that has deeply influenced Ando’s work. It also represents one of the earliest known examples of pure abstraction in art, anticipating core principles of minimalism, experiential engagement, and conceptual space centuries before such ideas were formally named in modern and contemporary art. This installation is the third iteration of Ando’s Ryoanji using charred wood, following versions at Asia Society Texas (2019) and MAKI Gallery Tokyo (2021). In each, the original stones are distilled into fifteen charred wooden cubes, created using shou sugi ban, a traditional method of preserving wood through fire. By translating natural stones into minimalist geometric forms, Ando explores the abstraction already latent in the original garden. The use of charred wood intensifies its temporality, echoing the principles of wabi sabi, in particular its embrace of impermanence, imperfection, and natural transformation. Some surfaces are treated with silver nitrate, used in traditional mirror making, so that parts of the cubes reflect and dissolve into their surroundings. A 120 × 120 inch cloud painting on aluminum accompanies the installation, gathering and diffusing ambient light. Both the cloud and Ryoanji invoke the Zen principle of kū (空), emptiness as a generative relational space where meaning arises through impermanence, reflection, and shifting perception.
Saint Laurent Miya Ando Mono no Aware curated by Anthony Vaccarello exhibition link