Richard Heller Gallery is pleased to present Hideaki Kawashima: Stay Still. This is Kawashima's third solo exhibition with the gallery. Kawashima has developed a distinctive representational style characterized by exaggerated proportions, androgynous and sensuous figures, and monochromatic or minimal palettes—a result of the artist considering himself to be “bad at colors.” Many critics have suggested the possibility that all of Kawashima’s works are versions of self-portraits, but Kawashima is careful about this association: “It was not an ideological thing like a self-portrait. I think it was more like painting a character. Instead of being someone’s likeness, it was my own character.” His works touch upon themes of spirituality, mythical narratives, longing and transformation.
Kawashima was born in Aichi, Japan in 1969. After graduating from Tokyo Zokei University in 1991, Kawashima undertook two years of training in Buddhism at the Hieizan Enryakuji Temple from 1995, thereafter commencing his career as an artist in 2001. Kawashima has presented his work in numerous exhibitions internationally and domestically. His major exhibitions include, “Japanese Experience Inevitable” (Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria, 2004), “LIFE” (Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, 2006), “Idol!” (Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan, 2006), and “Little Boy” (curated by Takashi Murakami, Japan Society, New York, 2006). In 2007 he took part in the “Pocheon Asia Biennale,” followed by a solo exhibition at the Kukje Gallery (Seoul, South Korea) in 2009. He has had five solo exhibitions with Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo in 2003, 2005, 2009, 2014 and 2018 and three solo exhibitions at the Richard Heller Gallery (Santa Monica, USA) respectively in 2011, 2014 and 2023.
