RYŌANJI (Mono no Aware Solo Exhibition) 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 Ryōanji 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 Ryōanji 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. Ryōanji 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 exhibition marks the third iteration of Ando’s Ryōanji installation 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 Ryōanji invoke the Zen principle of kū—emptiness as a generative, relational space—where meaning arises through impermanence, reflection, and shifting perception.
Saint Laurent Miya Ando Mono no Aware exhibition link