Kristine Aono

Kristine Yuki Aono (born 1960) is an American artist from the Midwest of the United States. Her sister is artist Joanne Aono.

Biography Aono grew up in the northern neighborhood of Chicago in Edgewater, which at the time had a primarily Japanese-American demographic, at her great grandparents home. She later moved to Orland Park where the demographic was mostly European American. Aono grew up in a three-story flat complex filled with her relatives. Art had always been in her life, as Aono grew up in a household that used art as a medium to express themselves. She is a third generation Japanese-American referred to as Sansei.

Aono approaches these objects and forms in a disciplinary manner to search and represent ethnic identity utilizing sociology, anthropology, history, and architecture.

In the 1990s, Aono’s works would use a different form of art called multimedia installations, where she takes ordinary objects and modernizes them in relation to Japanese American history. The history that she chooses to focus on is not only a part of her family’s history, but all Japanese Americans who experienced being placed in internment camps during World War II. Aono has commented on this, stating that “There’s a story behind each [object] and a person behind each story… The whole internment experience was about individual people… it wasn’t just this mass exodus.”

Sculptures

Cultural Inheritance Wire mesh, thread, charcoal, gold leaf flakes, Japanese maple leaves, wood, plaster. 111 x 48 x 20" Josei Wire mesh, thread. 17 x 24 x 5" Twigs Wire mesh, twigs, thread 17 x 26 x 6" Cherry Tree Leaf Josei Wiremesh, cherry leaves, thread 17 x 24 6" Blue Dansei Wire mesh, thread, sewing needles, paint 16 x 48 x 6" Rope Kimono II DesignCast plaster, wire mesh, fabric, rope, Japanese and North American maple leaves, wood, pigment. 59 x 48 x 24" Obasan/Grandma Kimono Hydrocal plaster, wire mesh, fabric, photocopies, rice, barbed wire 52 x 26 x 15" Ghost Kimono Hydrocal plaster, wire mesh, fabric, gesso, ash 59 x 33 x 20" Kimono Hydrocal plaster, wire mesh, fabric, rope, leaves, pigment. 53 x 28 x 12' Leaf Kimono Wire mesh, branch with leaves, embroidery thread. 66 x 91 x 10" Sewn Kimono Wire mesh, sewing needles, metallic thread, aluminum rod. 66 x 72 x 4" Sakura Kimono Wire mesh, embroidery thread, branch, cherry tree leaves 66 x 75 x 10" Flag Kimono Wire mesh, thread, paint, aluminum rod 93 x 72 x 6" Formstone Roehouse Fish Fiberglass fish, Formstone bricks, clay, paint, metal chair, plastic flowers. 36 x 72 x 18"

Installations Relics from Camp And the Bride Wore…. Deru Kugi Wa Utareru: The Nail That Sticks Up The Farthest Takes The Most Pounding Issei, Nisei, Sansei…