Susumu Kamijo, The Beach Lovers, 2020; Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Print

The Beach Lovers, like many of Kamijo’s works, depicts brightly-colored, abstracted poodles that evoke a sense of joy. His works take root in figuration, with some influence from Japanese printmaking, but the end result lies in a more abstracted realm due to Kamijo’s stylized placement of shapes and interpretation of texture. Born in Nagano, Japan in 1975, the artist received his MFA from the University of Washington in 2002 and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. 

After helping his partner, who is a dog groomer, and attending dog shows and competitions, Kamijo began depicting poodles in his paintings. “For me, I’m interested in the shapes of the show poodle. People take a lot of time to grow their hair...I just like the show poodle’s form.” Kamijo also notes that the inclusion of a palm tree in The Beach Lovers is unique, as his works usually solely depict the dogs.