Exhibited: “Walking around Clouds”, Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam. Exhibited: “Walking around Clouds”, Galerie Moderne, Silkeborg (stamped on the reverse). Provenance: Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam, Holland. Provenance: Galerie Moderne, Silkeborg, Denmark. Provenance: Private European collection. Acquired in 2008 by the current owner at Galerie Moderne, Silkeborg, in 2008.

The Japanese artist Ayako Rokkaku is a bit of an artistic shooting star, and especially over the past year, the prices of her works have skyrocketed. Rokkaku is self-taught as an artist, and her technique is both direct and unique. Without a prior plan, she applies the paint with her fingers directly on canvas or cardboard – often in large formats. In this way, the motifs eventually emerge, and the making of the art becomes like a performance, where Rokkaku's own body is involved in the process: “I love painting on something that is much bigger than I am. Moving to and from between the corners of such a huge canvas makes me feel as if the colours are flowing through my body.”

The result is a highly recognizable style executed in a simple colour scheme that consists of the clear, strong colours of the rainbow. Her works are inhabited by childish, caricatured girlish characters in the iconic Japanese Manga style with big eyes and long arms. The girls' sweet and innocent exterior contrasts with their underlying sulky and angry attitudes, revealing that feelings such as insecurity, fear and rage lurk just beneath the naive, happy surface.

Today, Rokkaku lives and works in Berlin, Porto, Tokyo and Amsterdam. Since 2006, she has been represented by Gallery Delaive and has had her work on display in exhibitions and numerous art fairs around the world.