Ko Kirk Yamahira

For the month of July, Russo Lee Gallery presents the front to the reverse to what is in between by Ko Kirk Yamahira. Much of Yamahira’s work involves the removal of individual threads from the weave of the canvas. In deconstructing his paintings, he converts surface into form and presents new ways to see and understand classically modern shapes. As the title of the show suggests, Yamahira’s canvases take on embodied form, revealing the original bones of the painting while creating softer, draping forms in between. He states that “existent surfaces are innumerable.”

Ko Kirk Yamahira was born in Los Angeles and raised in Tokyo and London. He currently lives and works in Seattle, WA. Yamahira’s work is in the collections of Microsoft, Port of Portland, Facebook/Meta, City of Bellevue, Frye Art Museum, and King County Public Art Collections. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries in the United States and Japan, both individually and as a member of the artist collectives SOIL and Art Beasties.

Opening Reception Thursday, July 6, 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Ko Kirk Yamahira Artist Statement

the front to the reverse to what is in between

July 6 – 28, 2023

Press Release