Aya Takano was born 1976 in Saitama, Japan. Takano is a Japanese pop artist associated with the superflat movement and a member of Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki.

With inspiration ranging from Italian paintings to American science fiction to Japanese manga, Takano's distinctive style attracts the viewer to enter her shiny, bizarre, futuristic world, yet soft and full of traditional and sensual imagery.

Takano's drawings and paintings, in which lively, large-eyed female characters float and contort their ethereal bodies, convey a passionate drive toward creation.