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K. KOBAYASHI
I REMEMBER WHEN...
September 9 - October 16, 2021
Lola Shepard is pleased to announce I REMEMBER WHEN…, an online solo exhibition featuring works on paper by emerging Japanese artist K. KOBAYASHI. This is Kobayashi’s first solo exhibition in New York City. The online presentation will be highlighted on the website from September 9 - October 16, 2021.
K. KOBAYASHI
ORDERS, 2021
Acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
I REMEMBER WHEN… features 15 works on paper created this year by K. Kobayashi. Kobayashi’s painting style merges aspects of Color Field painting and abstract expressionism with Shodo, an artistic form of Japanese calligraphy writing. Employing acrylic, graphite, and ink, the densely packed, stirring compositions incorporate gestural sweeps of color with the swooping, fluid lines of the calligraphic script.
K. KOBAYASHI
CONFINED FREEDOM, 2021
Acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
Guided by her memories, Kobayashi endeavors to preserve the quintessence of her experiences onto paper. Working instinctively, the artist explores the range of possibilities offered by her paints. Straddling between a color palette of vibrant hues from cobalt blue and bumblebee yellow to the more subdued tones of black and grey, the compact imagery appears frenzied and unconstrained. Yet these multi-layered, acrylic compositions are confined within a boxed-in area, accentuating the separation between paint and ground.
K. KOBAYASHI
EXPERIMENTAL EXPERIENCE, 2021
Acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
K. KOBAYASHI
SILENCE 2, 2021
Acrylic on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
Many of the works integrate her unique Shodo marks, applied in a curvilinear fashion. By inscribing her work with these pictorial scripts, the artist attempts to communicate with the viewer.
K. KOBAYASHI
UNTITLED 2, 2021
Acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Signed and dated verso (unframed)
K. KOBAYASHI
RECOVERY, 2021
Acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
Says Kobayashi
“I think that leaving marks is a primitive instinct as a human being.
Leaving marks is evidence of our existence. When we leave this world,
the marks are still here. It makes me feel a little secure to think that
something is going to be here a bit longer than me when I am gone.”
K. KOBAYASHI
UNTITLED 1, 2021
Acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 18 x 12 in.
Signed and dated verso (unframed)
K. KOBAYASHI
SOMETHING NEW, 2021
Acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 18 x 12 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
The painting Small World beautifully illustrates the unruly motion and personalized curviform mark-making that has become a signature of her artistic practice. Building the surface and layering paint over paint, Kobayashi applies broad swaths of acrylic paint in muted hues of grey and blue with a splash of yellow. She then overlays the work with the free-form Shodo marks in black, rendering an image that conveys emotional complexity and restlessness.
K. KOBAYASHI
SMALL WORLD, 2021
Acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
Kobayashi states that her
artwork is a way to:
“capture the essence of my memories
on surfaces. Often my memories
and feelings are elusive. They are
all mixed up, and confusing at
times. By trying to convey the
essence of these emotions and
feelings on surfaces, I hope to find someone else who can relate to
my experiences.”
K. KOBAYASHI
FOR EXAMPLE, 2021
Acrylic, ink, and graphite on paper, 18 x 12 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
Kobayashi resurrects and reshapes her memories into her work and each title provides a subtle clue to that indefinable, ephemeral state of the ‘remembrance of things past’.
K. KOBAYASHI
BLUES AND YELLOWS, 2021
Acrylic on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
K. KOBAYASHI
DIRECTION, 2021
Acrylic on paper, 12 x 18 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
K. KOBAYASHI
COLLIDE, 2021
Acrylic on paper, 18 x 12 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
K. KOBAYASHI
SILENCE, 2021
Acrylic on paper, 18 x 12 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
K. KOBAYASHI
SOME KIND OF FORCE, 2021
Acrylic on paper, 18 x 12 in.
Signed, dated, and titled verso (unframed)
BIOGRAPHY
K. Kobayashi was born in Nagoya, Japan and grew up in Tokyo. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL and a Bachelor of Arts from Queens College, CUNY, New York City, NY and has been included in several group exhibitions at Queens College. This is Kobayashi’s first solo exhibition with Lola Shepard.