When You Came At The Dawn

The first solo exhibition of New York-based artist Susumu Kamijo at Stems Gallery, Brussels presents “When You Came At The Dawn”: featuring nine large scale drawings.

Each drawing contains a portrait of poodles individual or in couple, all trimmed in german style haircut, standing in front of simple landscapes, horizontal lines recalling open and vast spaces which can be the spot of a romantic rendez-vous.

Susumu Kamijo takes pictures of his friends poodles, collects them from the internet, goes visiting dog shows or searches in dog dedicated magazines for that one image that hits him.

The interest in depicting poodles lies in their body shapes, their masses, given by grooming or customizing. Since this discovery, which he made three years ago, Kamijo has been drawing them using soft & oil pastels releasing pressure sensation brought by working with pastel. Moreover, it gives a texture which is more in line with the poodles.

Susumu received his MFA from the University of Washington in 2002, preceded by a BFA at the University of Oregon. His works have previously been shown at Regina Rex, Place Gallery, Marvin Gardens, and the Third Policeman. He was born in 1975 in Nagano, Japan and currently lives and works in the company of two poodles in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.