Foreign Relations
Mindy Solomon is pleased to present Foreign Relations, the second solo exhibition of longtime gallery artist Osamu Kobayashi. Comprised of primarily large-scale paintings, Kobayashi continues to investigate the possibilities of painting with outsized brushes and singular movements of glorious pigment against canvas.
Kobayashi has continued to pursue his commitment to conquering the medium of oil paint. In his newest body of work, there appears an almost spiritual reckoning with life and subsequently the images. Bright transparent layers of color curve and swirl within each other like a mantra circling in on itself. Kobayashi writes:
“Broad intuitive brushstrokes gracefully circle and undulate across the smooth gessoed plane. Raking light brings these grand gestures to life, contrasting with the flat surface these forms dance around. There’s precision to the often colorful and hard-edge imagery that is created. They recall the simple and clean line work of anime, graphic design, and color field painting. While the compositions remain reductive and abstract, references to the body and landscape are regular themes and can often be one and the same. A wavy stroke is viewed as flowing long hair, and at the same time can be seen as depicting a psychedelic hill or mountain.”
Kobayashi has proven to be an important voice in the field of abstraction, consistently referenced in arts publications as someone to watch and follow. Over the years he has quietly and diligently honed his craft- ignoring the trends and proving that fine details and dedicated focus sustain and support authentic, beautifully crafted art.
About Osamu Kobayashi
Osamu Kobayashi (b. 1984, Columbia, SC) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He has exhibited widely in the US and abroad including solo exhibitions at Underdonk Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; A+B Gallery in Italy; Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, Fl; and LA Artcore in LA, California. He has participated in group exhibitions at the Lissone Contemporary Art Museum, Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University, the Bronx River Art Center, and the Columbia Museum of Art.
In 2013, Kobayashi was awarded the Hassam, Speicher, Betts, and Symons Purchase Fund from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2021, he was awarded a NYFA Artist Fellowship. His work has been reviewed by Artsy, Whitewall Magazine, Artcritical, and Hyperallergic among other publications.