Painted with ink on metal, this tondo by Miya Ando captures the ephemeral, transient experience of watching clouds as they come and go in the evening light. The series to which this work belongs debuted in Ando’s exhibition Kumoji (Cloud Path / A Road Traversed By Birds And The Moon). The date stamp in the title illustrates the exact time and place that Ando observed the clouds on which she based the painting. As the title indicates, the Japanese word “yuugure” literally translates into “evening.” A practicing Buddhist, Ando works a lot with natural phenomena such as clouds and light to express the idea of impermanence. The ephemeral qualities of the clouds illustrate the sentiment behind the Japanese phrase “mono no aware,” roughly translated as “the pathos of things.” Beauty fades; strength dissolves into frailty. Everything follows this rule; it is the vernacular of nature.  “Something becomes more beautiful and sublime the more impermanent it is,” Ando says. “There’s a psychological shift that occurs when one recognizes the pathos of falling cherry blossoms, or the moon going through phases, or a passing cloud.” The image is painted on metal, a material Ando appreciates for its ability to reflect light under constantly changing conditions. The strength and permanence of the material is juxtaposed by the ephemerality of the subject matter.