Osamu Kobayashi & Sam Francis
Currents

: Munich, Germany

The american contemporary art GALLERY is pleased to present Currents, an exhibition bringing together works by contemporary artist Osamu Kobayashi (b. 1984) and Abstract Expressionist Sam Francis (1923–1994). The exhibition was shaped through conversations with Kobayashi and with Augustus and Margaret Francis, the son and widow of Sam Francis, about philosophy, meditation, and Zen Buddhism—subjects central to both artists across generations.

At its core, Currents reflects the flow of inner and outer worlds, a movement of energy that parallels the act of painting itself. A channel for the subconscious and a path toward unification of mind, body, and spirit. Kobayashi, born in the United States to Japanese heritage, and Francis, an American who lived and worked extensively in Tokyo, each embody a connection to both American and Japanese cultural contexts. Their shared engagement with Eastern philosophy and meditation underpins the dialogue in this exhibition.

Kobayashi’s practice balances preparation and release. Meticulous sketches of biomorphic and geometric shapes provide the foundation, yet the final works are created with large-scale brushes moved across the canvas with his whole body. Broad, undulating gestures establish rhythm and direction, allowing each composition to open into the next. The sequence of eight new paintings made for this exhibition unfolds like a visual narrative of transformation. “These paintings were conceived as a sequential representation of two heads colliding and transforming into a larger entity,” Kobayashi notes. “Beyond one’s metaphorical reading of the series, the paintings also explore ideas surrounding sensuality, playfulness, and the ideal.”

In the exhibition, Sam Francis is represented by three moments in his practice. A 1959 all-over work on paper reflects his early investigation of density and gesture, where layers of color nearly saturate the surface and only fragments of white remain. By 1971, his focus shifted to air, light, and space: works from his “Fresh Air” and “Edge” series are structured around expansive white centers that open into contemplative voids. From the late 1950s onward, Francis lived and worked for extended periods in Tokyo, where his engagement with Zen philosophy and Japanese aesthetics deepened. This influence is particularly visible in intimate works on paper with luminous washes of color and mandala-like forms in sumi ink, compositions that balance immediacy with transcendence. Taken together, these works trace a trajectory from intensity to openness, underscoring his lifelong negotiation between painterly action and meditative stillness.

Currents marks the first time the work of Osamu Kobayashi and Sam Francis is presented in direct dialogue. Seen together, their paintings and works on paper trace a current between control and release, contemplation and immediacy— across generations and across cultures.