Rising Painter Osamu Kobayashi’s Ethereal Abstractions Evoke Spectral Visions

In his Brooklyn studio under the Gowanus Expressway, painter Osamu Kobayashi fills notebooks with approximately two-square-inch sketches of abstract shapes. These small graphite doodles, lined up in grids in his sketchbook, are the blueprints for the color-drenched canvases that fill his studio, including Inner, Outer (2023), an expansive abstract painting resembling a figure eight. He closely references these drawings, placing checkmarks next to those he wants to paint. Then, Kobayashi uses huge brushes—some created by affixing almost 30 utility brushes to a single piece of molding—to translate these forms onto the canvas.

The spontaneous energy of this process is clear in his current exhibition, “On Apparition,” at Hollis Taggart, which is on view until February 10th. The show marks a critical moment in Kobayashi’s career: After recently showing at Mindy Solomon Gallery’s group exhibition “In Spiritual Light,” he now has upcoming solo shows at Istanbul-based Dirimart in April and Beers London in October.

The theme of his show, the “apparition,” refers to the process of forms emerging organically from simple brushstrokes, which he sees as akin to spirits materializing from the ether. His technique, involving large, fluid strokes, creates shapes that evolve from abstract to more figurative. “It’s as if a form is coming into being from nothing,” Kobayashi said. This balance is evident in the spectral forms that populate his paintings, organic yet geometric. They seem familiar yet defy easy categorization. Kobayashi’s forms—or apparitions—are playful rather than haunting.

Kobayashi’s approach is a study in contrasts. The careful planning of his chromatic, large-scale oil paintings juxtaposes with his spontaneous movements. Some paintings (like Mushroom Dance, 2023, which evokes a fluorescent yellow mushroom cloud) appear random at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they reveal the methodical conception behind their creation. Gesturing to the bottom-right corner of the work, Kobayashi pointed out a section he added after the initial brushstroke, which seamlessly melds with the existing movement of the paint. It’s hard to believe such fluid work emerges from such a careful and deliberate process.

“It’s always been my thinking, since I’ve started this way of working, to have a balance between these two extremes in many ways of the work, the experiential and the more tangible,” Kobayashi said. Occultation (2024), for instance, evokes a spontaneous inception more directly than Kobayashi’s other paintings. This painting, using a much darker foundational palette, features a bright, bursting splotch of yellow-orange paint—resembling the profile of a bird’s head. Just like many works in the show, the image emanates from the darkest corner of the painting, drawing attention to its intricate detail.

Kobayashi often works on an entire body of work in tandem, meaning one change in a painting can cause a chain reaction across other paintings. In this way, he produces a series of works that change in conversation with each other, developing both sequentially and synchronously. One motif—a circle representative of a moon or eye—appears in multiple paintings, including Poppy, Yurei, and Moon Gazer II (all 2023). “These forms, I am thinking about them like sequential art—each painting is a step from the other painting,” Kobayashi told Artsy. “There’s something that wraps back around, but it’s like a life cycle—you see this form starting to emerge and then becoming, maybe, a figure and then a plant, and then dissipating,” he added.

Some works, such as Telepathy (2024), are particularly transcendent when viewed up close—especially when direct sunlight sneaks in through Kobayashi’s studio window, creating remarkable depth. On all four edges, the canvas radiates with vibrant, seductive colors. The bursts of color elicit the sense of an apparition slowly materializing, as if the painting is a gateway for ethereal forms to emerge and recede into the canvas’s textured landscape.

Kobayashi’s paintings pull viewers into a world where the ephemeral becomes tangible—evocative of a phantom. However, unlike most ghosts, these apparitions are not representations of fear, but rather specters of life and creation.