Kiyoshi Hamada, Ebb & Flow

Dates｜       February 25 (Sat) to March 25 (Sat), April 1 (Sat) to 15 (Sat), 2023

Venue｜      √K Contemporary

Admission｜Free

【Exhibition Period Extension Announcement】

Kiyoshi Hamada, Ebb & Flow has been extended until April 15, 2023. Following the exhibition changeover period of March 28 (Tue) to 31 (Fri), Ebb & Flow will return with a partial display changeover of previously unexhibited works.

*Please note that the gallery will be closed for viewing on the aforementioned days of the exhibition changeover period.

On view from February 25 (Saturday) through March 25 (Saturday) April 15 (Saturday), Kiyoshi Hamada’s large-scale solo exhibition will traverse 3-floors of the gallery, presenting works from 60+ years of the artist’s career.

Taking place across three floors of the gallery from the basement to the 2nd floor, Ebb & Flow will exhibit the artist’s earliest works, from his initial career as a silkscreen artist to the Drawings of the 80s, as well as his iconic series of “shaved, carved and layered” works that began in the ’90s. Spanning 60 years of his career, Ebb & Flow offers viewers the opportunity to experience the great changes and developments in the artist’s vast oeuvre.

【On the Exhibition】

Hamada began his career as a silkscreen artist in the 1960s. Known for his minimalistic mindscapes, his superseding sharp and long, oval-shaped cuts of reds over deep black silkscreens were met with great recognition and acclaim. However, Hamada felt a sense of dissonance due to his inability to produce works independently and, in the 80s, embarked on a new endeavor; to challenge the art of the line by using the most basic of materials, a pencil, and paper. From here on, Hamada would traverse between different systems of production, from the repeated process of etching, scraping, and layering of paints, to the superimposing of wooden blocks.

Through this perpetual revision of production methods, Hamada’s works undergo constant transformation. However, in spite of this perennial flux, the artist remains allegiant in his attitudes toward his work. Rather, through his utilization of deeply physical and intimate processes, what each and every single one of the artist’s works sublimate is the accumulation of his time, labor, and presence.

Covering 3 floors of gallery space, this comprehensive display of the artist’s approximately 60-year-long career will present the silkscreens of his early career to his latest works.

Ebb & Flow (Japanese: Michihi)

Hamada spent his childhood by the sea, playing and living alongside the ebbs and flows of the tides.

At low tide, he would play on the beach and leave footprints on the sand.

By high tide, these traces would disappear.

This memory would always remain in his mind.

In his endless search for new forms of expression, Hamada preserves the physicality and time of his production and leaves new footprints in the sand.

【Upcoming Events】

Events such as gallery talks with the artists are scheduled to be held during the course of the exhibition.

For full details, please see the Events section below.