Lori Bookstein Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent paintings by Hiroyuki Hamada. This is the artist's third solo-show with the gallery.

Rigorously painted on paper and then mounted on canvas and board, these paintings maintain the same level of craftsmanship that are characteristic of the artist’s sculptural practice. Executed in a fully realized gray-scale (save one painting in which an icy blue predominates) the paintings utilize a similar mixture of acrylic, charcoal, enamel, graphite and oil that the artist uses to polychrome his sculpture.

The artist writes of his work:

It’s been my habit to draw for many years. My sculptures often start from drawings and so do my prints. But it took me twenty years to go back to full-fledged paintings.

The process of making paintings can be faster (than, for example, the building process of a sculpture) more flexible, and it can allow spontaneous happenings and development of visual narratives, which can lead to a glimpse of depth and the richness of who we really are.

But I’m also rediscovering how draining and strenuous the process can be. It is the process of dropping all my daily concerns and opening all my antennas to feel beyond my ordinary spheres and gaze back into myself, all the while putting my faith in the mostly fruitless struggle of digging and building toward the rare confrontation with the moment of a resolution.

It is certainly one of the most meaningful activities for me but it is one of the most challenging acts as well.

May 29th, 2015

Hiroyuki Hamada was born in 1968 in Tokyo, Japan. He moved to the United States at the age of 18. Hamada studied at West Liberty State College, WV before receiving his MFA from the University of Maryland. Hamada has been included in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States including his previous exhibitions, Hiroyuki Hamada and Hiroyuki Hamada: Two Sculptures, at Lori Bookstein Fine Art. He was the recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in 2009 and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 1998. Most recently, Hamada’s work was featured in Tristan Manco’s Raw + Material = Art (Thames & Hudson). The artist lives and works in East Hampton, NY.

Hiroyuki Hamada: Paintings will be on view from September 10 – October 17, 2015. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 10th from 6-8 pm. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 am to 6:00 pm.