GALLERY MoMo

Opening times: Tuesday – Saturday 11 am – 7 pm

Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and National holidays

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GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku is pleased to announce that we will have a solo exhibition by Katsumi Hayakawa entitled "Day by Day / Katsumi Hayakawa Small Works," from September 2 (Sat) to October 7 (Sat).

 

In his early works, Hayakawa employed a technique involving an electric drill to sculpt layered paint surfaces. Drawing from a modernist perspective of color composition, surface, and line in painting, he explored the interplay between the aerial view of urban landscapes and the imagery of electronic circuits. This exploration sought to unveil similarities while delving into the dynamic interaction of micro and macro expressions.

 

From 2010 onward, Hayakawa embarked on creating semi-three-dimensional artworks using paper. This series further extended themes evident in his paintings, resulting in a clearer fusion of bird's-eye and micro perspectives. He also expanded the thematic scope to incorporate relationships between artworks and observers, physicality, and memory.

 

This exhibition predominantly features two-dimensional pieces capturing fleeting daily imagery. His new paintings, achieved through minute artistry, concentrate on etching imagery onto canvases. Hayakawa explains that capturing and anchoring unintentional canvas phenomena, such as color blending, water movement, and pigment settling, is more about external engagement and communication with the world than a manifestation of internal imagery.

 

Simultaneously, several small-scale paper artworks are also on display in this exhibition. The amalgamation of urban, systematic, linear works with ambient, tranquil paintings appears to symbolize the very essence of our world.

Katsumi Hayakawa's new creations and fresh explorations eagerly await your viewing.

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Katsumi Hayakawa, born in Tochigi Prefecture in 1970, graduated from Nihon University College of Art in 1992 and subsequently pursued studies in the United States. He obtained his MFA degree from the School of Visual Arts New York in 1998. Following this, he continued to present his work in New York until his return to Japan in 2008. He shifted his base to Tokyo and has since primarily exhibited solo shows at our gallery. He has also showcased his works on a global scale in countries such as the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Taiwan. Notably, his pieces are held in prestigious collections including the Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Málaga, Target, and the Louis Vuitton Collection.

 

 

Artist's Comment

Concepts, sensations, or perhaps fleeting elements amidst the passage of daily time.

What are they?

Our current perception is inevitably rooted in the past, while the flowing and blending materials mark time, connecting past and future. Space births distance, and vision perceives objects within this expanse. A lone waterfowl gracing the surface of a calm lake, emerging ripples, flickering subway lights in Canal Street, subtle emitted sounds, the burst of a supernova, bread mold, heated circuits, the hum of cooling fans, flowing magma, resonating sirens, absent moon, surging sea, glinting frame, electric lines dissecting the sky, rusted wheels, self as catalyst, the disjunction between sight and perception. And through these rifts, something arrives.

2023, Katsumi Hayakawa