Monolithic Abstract Forms: The Portfolio of Hiroyuki Hamada
#74, painted plaster
Hiroyuki Hamada was born in Tokyo and currently lives and works in East Hampton, New York. The artist produces works of sculpture, painting, and print that focus on monolithic abstract forms in black and white or neutral colour palettes.
#64, enamel, oil, plaster, tar, and wax
Some of the artist’s sculptures remind me of large scale works by Martin Puryear. Like Puryear’s works, many of Hamada’s sculptures comprise a single, bulbous form made up of a variety of intersecting planes and panels. The artist tends to simply number his creations rather than naming them, leaving a large portion of the interpretation up to the viewer.
I really like the aesthetic of Hamada’s paintings, in particular the way these works sit next to his sculptures. There’s a similar focus on singular abstract forms in these works, but the nature of the medium allows for a quicker transition between the artist’s imagination and the finished work. Hamada’s paintings are gestural and speak to an uninhibited exploration of form and composition.
