BIGEI

Hiroyuki Suzuki / Time Layers

January 16 (Sat) – January 30 (Sat), 2021
Venue: STANDING PINE
Chojamachi Ebisu Bldg. PART 2, 3F
2-5-24 Nishiki, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 460-0003, Japan

Open: 13:00–19:00
Closed: Monday and Tuesday

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

Born in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture in 1950, Suzuki graduated from Aichi Prefectural Asahigaoka High School and moved to Tokyo, where he worked as an assistant to Mamoru Shinoda and Tomio Miki. In 1973, he moved to France and studied printmaking at Atelier 17 under S.W. Hayter. He returned to Japan in 1977 and later traveled to the United States in 1982, where he collaborated on printmaking for over a year at the New York studio of Shusaku Arakawa.

This exhibition marks the debut of a new series of “Time Layers” works on canvas, created between 2019 and 2020. These works are conceptually linked to the earlier “Time Layers” series created intensively between 1985 and 1995, which were exhibited in 2016.

Throughout his career, Suzuki has consistently explored the relationship between paper and materials through printmaking, monotypes, and drawings, deliberately avoiding the use of canvas. However, in this new series, he embraces canvas, carefully filling in its weave with graphite pencil to create a distinctive texture that incorporates the canvas itself as part of the expression.

On top of this graphite foundation, he applies various materials in diverse ways—no two works employ the same technique. Upon close inspection, one can see that each piece is a process of experimentation and discovery.

Using graphite, a medium known for its permanence, Suzuki constructs layered images that embody both accumulation and subtraction. This series may represent a culmination of his ongoing pursuit to redefine the relationship between printmaking and metal, move beyond the reproducibility of tableaux, and explore printmaking as a form of contemporary art.