173 - TADAO ANDO (Osaka, Japan, 1941).

TADAO ANDO (Osaka, Japan, 1941). “The Church of Light.” Ink on paper. Signed. Measurements: 19 x 12.5 cm. This drawing refers to one of Tadao Ando’s most iconic projects, the Church of Light, built in 1989 in Ibaraki, Osaka, and considered one of the most refined expressions of his architecture. The building, conceived as an austere volume of exposed concrete, features a cruciform opening in the altar wall that allows natural light to enter, transforming a minimalist architectural element into a powerful spiritual experience. The composition captures this concept through gestural strokes of black ink, accents of blue, and a schematic arrangement of lines and dots that evoke the building’s structure. The economy of resources and the contrast between geometry and graphic expressiveness reflect the essential principles of Ando’s architectural language, based on the interaction between space, material, and light. Tadao Ando is one of the leading figures in contemporary Japanese architecture. Self-taught, he founded his studio in Osaka in 1969 and developed a style characterized by the use of exposed concrete, pure geometric forms, and the integration of natural elements. Among his most notable projects are the Azuma House, the Church of Light, and the museums on Naoshima. Awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1995 and the Praemium Imperiale in 1996, his career has been the subject of major retrospectives at the National Art Center in Tokyo (2017) and the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2018), an institution that houses drawings and models of his projects.