Hollywood, Los Angeles
Satoshi Kojima
Untitled Musical
Hoffman DonahueHoffman Donahue is pleased to present new paintings by Satoshi Kojima, the artist’s first solo exhibition in California. Kojima constructs his paintings from geometric structures that give rise to androgynous figures suspended within recurring architectural spaces: subway platforms, tunnels, train tracks, and abstract Op-Art fields. A newly restrained black-and-white palette evokes pre- color cinema, while subtle pastel hues tint the scenes with nearly imperceptible brushwork. The works in this exhibition constitute a culmination of Kojima’s Underground series, which the artist began in 2023. In these recent works, the compositions grow denser. Kojima’s figures appear freeze-framed mid-performance, charged with a latent energy on the verge of release. Beneath the spectacle of urban nightlife, Kojima uses the underground to explore desire, displacement, and unstable identities. These paintings suggest a world in which the subconscious is not passive, but actively shaping perception. A quiet dissonance runs through the work, pointing toward an ongoing process of soul-searching toward transformation. Kojima writes: “The underground appears as a metaphor for the unconscious—but also, within the language of art, as a site where creation quietly takes form. It is a space where what has been pushed beneath the surface begins to gather presence. Within it, I sense a fragile, almost reckless festivity—something half-desperate, yet charged with the impulse to rupture and move beyond the present condition.” Satoshi Kojima (b. 1979, Tokyo, Japan) is a painter currently based in Dusseldorf, Germany after completing his Meisterschüler under Peter Doig at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Kojima attended Tokyo Zokei University and received his Master of Arts at Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, Germany in 2014. Previous solo exhibitions include Underground World, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany, (2023); Art Basel Statements, Basel, Switzerland (2023); Chaste as Ice, Pure as Snow, TRAMPS and Michael Werner, New York (2019); Delicate Boss, TRAMPS, London (2017); Satoshi Kojima, Bridget Donahue, New York (2021, 2017); Satoshi Kojima, Tramps London (2014) and Ohne Titel, Grau6, Dusseldorf (2010). Recent group exhibitions include The Street, curated by Peter Doig, Gagosian, New York (2024); Satoshi Kojima & Sam Contis at Sunset Court, presented by Qrystal Partners in Venice Beach, CA (2024); Eggy and Seedy, organized by Matt Copson and Alastair MacKinven, Reading International, Reading, UK (2017); CFA Classics, Contemporary Fine Arts - CFA Berlin (2015); Smilies, Parkhaus im Malkastenpark, Dusseldorf (2015); Marie Karlberg / Satoshi Kojima, Tramps at Nansengade 62, Copenhagen (2015); Lady Work Work, Tramps London (2014) and Klasse Doig, Display Gallery, London (2014) among others. Kojima’s work is included in the permanent collection of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI.