KIYOSHI HAMADA

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 endeavour; 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 utilisation of deeply physical and intimate processes, what each and every single one of the artist’s works sublimate is the accumulation of his time, labour, and presence.

Covering three 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.