MAKI Gallery is pleased to announce When You Come Home, a major solo exhibition featuring New Yorkbased artist Susumu Kamijo’s latest body of work. This show marks the artist’s notable return to Tennoz, following his last solo showcase three years prior.

Since 2014, Kamijo has integrated the motif of poodles into his artwork, crafting pieces with crayons and pastels on paper. In more recent years, he has shifted to canvas and flashe vinyl paint, persistently pursuing the experimentation of forms, colors, compositions, and textures in painting, with the poodle as his gateway for exploration. The artist’s keen spirit of inquiry and genuine curiosity about the act of painting is conveyed through diverse paint textures created by skillful brush movements and layering colors, as well as the exquisite balance of
composition that emerges from connecting forms composed with both straight and curved lines.
As Kamijo stated from the beginning, he has no emotional attachment to the motif of poodles, what we encounter in this exhibition is a creature born from the process towards the abstraction of the poodle, which appears elusive, resembling both a beastlike subject and a human.
Furthermore, while his previous works often depicted poodles in outdoor scenes with substantial negative space in the background, the pieces showcased in this series feature creatures arranged within indoor spaces, constructed by dividing planes on the canvas. These domestic environments comprise a broader spectrum of colors and incorporate various new components, such as birds, cats and fish. This approach is influenced by the fusion of figures and surrounding decorations seen in the work of Francis Bacon and Henri Matisse. It reflects Kamijo’s commitment to delving deep into his inner self as an artist. By adding extra layers of detailing to his work, he creates new opportunities with which to confront his deepest desires. Grappling with the paintings he truly wants to create, he strives to break free of his artistic tendencies.