About the Artist

Joy Aoki was born and raised in Pasadena, California and began painting at 4 years old. She grew up near Santa Anita Racetrack in the 1970s (often called the Golden Age of Horse Racing) and witnessed the likes of Secretariat, Affirmed, Seattle Slew and Spectacular Bid. This started a lifelong admiration of the beauty and power of thoroughbreds.

Joy was educated in both Fine Arts (at Otis/Parsons Art Institute) and Design (at Art Center College of Design). This combined background gives her a unique advantage: she both the trained eye and hand of an artist, plus the technical prowess and of a designer. This also makes her a bit of a control freak: to maintain quality she builds and primes each canvas from scratch; and every work is subject to meticulous drawings and diagrams before painting actually begins.

Joy's clients include horse owners, trainers and racetracks. In 2006 she was the featured artist in the summer edition of Art Horse Magazine.

When she is not painting, she is a graphic designer, slow food aficionado and environmental activist. When she is not designing, eating or saving whales, she is riding her bike along the beaches of Los Angeles' South Bay.