Born in Nagano, Japan in 1975, Susumu Kamijo lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He holds a BFA at the University of Oregon (2000) and an MFA in Painting and Drawing at the University of Washington (2002). He has exhibited both nationally and internationally in solo exhibitions at New York, Seoul, Brussels, Tokyo among others. Kamijo’s paintings and drawings take an abstract approach to familiar subjects such as animals and human faces, playing with forms and colors with concise handling of media. The technique of painting quickly to capture something that is authentic is one that Kamijo attributes to his experience of learning Japanese calligraphy as a young man. His poodles have attracted significant attention ever since they first appeared in 2014. His own interest in creative writing has also lent a narrative “style” to his paintings that mimics the minimalism of a poem and the surprise of a short story.