Jack Hanley Gallery is excited to present Lick Me Till Dawn, Susumu Kamijo’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.
Kamijo will show a new series of his signature poodles while introducing a new technique, expanding his practice from paper onto canvas. In mainly large scale paintings, the poodles are set into highly abstracted backgrounds that set the scenes for each of his paintings. Divisions of horizontal color blocks suggest wide horizons and landscapes while colorful small circles in the upper left or right corner resemble the sun or the moon, depending on their colors.
The almost typological backgrounds are contrary to the idiosyncratic postures and facial expressions of each individual poodle. Proud, playful, majestically strutting around or coyly gazing back at the viewer, every poodle seems to have their very own personality. Curved lines, rounded shapes and two-colored dots that cover large sections of their bodies give the dogs and the paintings a distinct dynamic quality. In some of the new works, their mobility is further amplified by the full division of the animal’s overall shapes. The dissolution of the body further abstracts the poodle while enhancing their dynamism, similar to the paintings of Italian Futurism.
While Kamijo owns a poodle himself, the paintings are less about his love for the dog but rather about the variety of peculiar shapes they can take on. Their figures and hair styles provide a perfect playground for balancing shapes and colors. Having worked in this series for several years, Susumu Kamijo has developed a sophisticated technique that combines repetition and distinction, abstraction and individual characteristics and give his paintings their unmistakable uniqueness.
The exhibition will be held concurrently with a solo exhibition at Queens-based gallery Marvin Gardens.
Susumu Kamijo (b. 1975, Nagano, Japan) holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing at the University of Oregon in 2000, followed by an MFA in Painting and Drawing at the University of Washington in 2002. Kamijo has had solo exhibitions at Stems, Brussels (BE), GNYP, Berlin (DE), Harper’s Books, New York (NY), Marvin Gardens, Queens (NY) and Masahiro Maki Gallery, Tokyo (JP). He currently lives and works in Brooklyn in the company of one Poodle and one Wire Fox Terrier.
For more information please contact Silke Linder-Sutti at silke@jackhanley.com