Hiromart is pleased to announce the opening of the American artist Paddy Shaw’s “Opus 9” - the latest mixed-media artworks,  scheduled from September 9th through October 16th. This is his second show at Hiromart Gallery, following his debut solo-show in Japan held in 2010 that had a notable impact with the series of 7 severed heads. This time, his concept for the show comes from his experience in the performing arts.

Paddy Shaw is known as the artist who paints the history figures and actual individuals with the story he studied. This is the first time for him to work on fictional character and the composition of a scene of vignette.

Opus 9 is a selection of compelling mixed-media artworks contingent on Paddy Shaw’s experience in the world of performing arts. While many artists have instanced the theatre in their works, Shaw takes the subject in a new direction by using Sudoku clues to create bold cryptograms that relate directly to a specific opera, musical, or play. “I noticed that Sudoku was a popular exercise for performers and technicians during lengthy down-times backstage,” Shaw quotes, “and after I picked it up, I began to see pictures or rune-like symbols in the clues. I had the notion that these relatively simple symbols could serve as ideograms repesentative of select stage works.”

Once the appropriate geometric forms are discerned and composed by Shaw, they are applied onto vinyl substrates and upholstered onto wooden stretchers. The use of vinyl not only exemplifies Shaw’s creative command of modern materials, it functions as a play on words: vinyl was a popular material used to make phonograph records. All of the performances represented were at one time or another, recorded audibly onto vinyl, Shaw records them visually onto vinyl.
Shaw says “I hope the viewer will be able to find a little bit of drama and a little bit of comedy in each one.”

About the Artist

Graduated from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 1996, and received Masters of Arts from Seton Hall University in 2001.
Paddy Shaw had his first solo show in Ireland within a year of graduation the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Since 1997, he lives and works in the East Coast of USA. In May 2009, his first New York solo show The Butcher’s Dog was hosted by Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts.
His first solo-show in Japan was held at Hiromart Gallery, Tokyo in 2010.