BIGEI

SHUMOKU GALLERY is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Hiroyuki Suzuki (b. 1950).

Born in 1950 in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture, Hiroyuki Suzuki moved to Tokyo after graduating from Aichi Prefectural Asahigaoka High School, where he worked as an assistant to artists Morio Shinoda and Tomio Miki. In 1973, he moved to France to study printmaking at Atelier 17 under S.W. Hayter, and returned to Japan in 1977. In 1982, he spent over a year in New York assisting in printmaking production at Shusaku Arakawa’s studio.

This is Suzuki’s second solo exhibition at SHUMOKU GALLERY, following his 2016 drawing-based exhibition Time Layers.

The series presented in this exhibition, Behind the Grey Matter, moves away from the reproducibility of printmaking and is created using the monotype technique, which produces only a single impression from each plate. These works possess both a bold spontaneity and a quiet intricacy, bringing forth light from within fields of black through powerful, gestural strokes. The method reflects the artist’s long-standing engagement with various media—including intaglio printmaking, metalwork, and drawing—and is born from a deep well of thought and experience.

Although rooted in Western printmaking techniques, Suzuki's works evoke the spirit of East Asian calligraphy, lending his prints a distinctive presence. His unique style has been well received across Europe, leading to solo exhibitions in the UK and Poland following group shows alongside artists such as Rachel Whiteread and Antony Gormley. His work is currently included in a contemporary Japanese print exhibition at a museum in Croatia and is scheduled to tour to Slovenia next year.

We warmly invite you to experience this powerful and contemplative body of work.