Osamu Kobayashi’s paintings are the kind you can come back to over and over again, and each time you’d figure out something new about them or feel they mean something different than you previously thought.
Kobayashi, a 35-year-old living in Brooklyn, has gained success as an artist both in his native US and abroad, with solo exhibitions at Underdonk Gallery, Greenwich House, and AplusB Contemporary Art in Italy, among others.
His paintings come in a variety of sizes, but they all share the same underlying craziness of color and shape. As always with abstract art, meaning is in the eye of the observer. But Kobayashi says he always starts with a definite idea in mind… until it changes due to the reality of the medium.
“The paintings begin as fully realized ideas whether in my mind or, increasingly, through sketches,” Kobayashi explained to ArtFile Magazine. “The ideas, however, always change as I paint. The reason being, when colors, textures, and shapes are no longer just ideas but are physically made real through paint, my expectations are challenged.”
“A color that I thought would be vibrant may seem dull next to another,” he gave an example. “The texture in one area may overpower a shape nearby. The success of a work is largely due to the variety of issues that are resolved during, not prior to, painting.”
Trust Kobayashi to turn abstract paintings into real-world problem-solving!
