Susumu Kamijo - 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale in Association with Poly Auction Hong Kong Sunday, November 28, 2021 | Phillips

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  • Rising star Susumu Kamijo’s whimsically surreal portraits of poodles have earned widespread attention in the art world. Born in 1975 in Nagano, Japan, Kamijo moved to the US at the age of 16 and completed a BFA in Painting and Drawing at the University of Oregon in 2000, followed by an MFA in Painting and Drawing at the University of Washington in 2002.

     

     

    Susumu Kamijo
    Installation view of the Susumu Kamijo: Walk With Me To The Sea show at Masahiro Maki Gallery in Tokyo, 14 September – 27 October 2018
    © Susumu Kamijo

     

    Animals best known for their intelligence and loyalty - as well as their comically fluffy appearance - Kamijo’s poodles are depicted cantering majestically in open fields, lolling under the sun, their faces earnestly cocked towards the sky. Kamijo’s use of flat blocks of contrasting colours evokes the expressionistic fervour of Van Gogh and Gauguin, whilst the rough woodcut-esque lines and prismatic, almost Cubist, compositions combine with the animated, patterned surfaces to convey a vibrant dynamism. 

     

    Kamijo cites the German Expressionists as one of his key influences. Their application of vivid fields of colour draws ready parallels with Kamijo’s works, in particular those of Franz Marc, a German painter and printmaker who was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter and one of the key figures of German Expressionism. Marc’s mature works depict brightly-coloured animals in simple, natural settings, symbolic of an age of innocence before the advent of materialism and the corrupting influences of modernity. 

     

     

    Franz Marc, Blue Horse I ,1911
    Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus Collection, Munich

     

    Kamijo’s recent solo exhibitions include Lick Me Till Dawn, Jack Hanley Gallery (New York, 2020); Fetch Your Own Bones, Kantor Gallery (Beverly Hills, 2020); I’ll Follow You To The Sunset, GNYP Gallery (Berlin, 2019); Walk With Me To The Sea, Sakurado Fine Arts (Tokyo, 2018); and I Will Walk You Tomorrow, Harper’s Books (New York, 2018). Kamijo currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

    • Provenance

      MAKI Gallery, Tokyo
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

ULTRA/NEO

130

Sunrise

oil crayon and pastel pencil on paper
127 x 96.8 cm. (50 x 38 1/8 in.)
Executed in 2018.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
HK$150,000 - 250,000 
€19,100-31,900
$19,200-32,100

Sold for HK$1,033,200

Contact Specialist

Danielle So
Specialist, Head of Day Sale
+852 2318 2027
danielleso@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale in Association with Poly Auction

Hong Kong Auction 29 November 2021