Often regarded for his strides in conceptual photography, Japanese-Canadian artist Roy Kiyooka first emerged in the Vancouver art scene as an advocate of post-painterly abstraction. Influenced by his encounters with Barnett Newman and Clement Greenberg at the Emma Lake Workshops, Kiyooka pushed Vancouver beyond regionalism with hard-edge abstraction, first exhibiting Black Ovals at Grippi & Waddell Gallery in New York. Throughout his career, Kiyooka assumed teaching positions at the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design) and University of British Columbia, encouraging a new generation of artists to look towards an international context in their work. In 1971, Kiyooka was named the head of the NSCAD painting department. Formal ideas of pictorial depth and flatness were central concerns to his early practice. Using a combination of aqua-tex acrylic paint and rhoplex emulsion, Kiyooka developed visual tension through differing matte surfaces, guiding the viewer between areas emphasizing flatness and material presence against more glossy finishes. Kiyooka suggested that the oval motif ‘evoke[d] the arches of the Granville Street Bridge’ but his repeated use of mandalas and curvilinear forms lended itself to a warmer, more organic aptitude to that of his minimalist contemporaries. Executed during a transformative time in Kiyooka’s practice, in which he rejected the modernist aesthetic and moved towards a conceptual, multi-disciplinary approach, Black Ovals is a rare and vital example of an influential Canadian's contribution to painting.

Works

Magic Ring Series No. 7 Magic Ring Series No. 7 Magic Ring Series No. 7 Magic Ring Series No. 7 Magic Ring Series No. 7
Magic Ring Series No. 7
1965
Black Ovals Black Ovals Black Ovals Black Ovals
Black Ovals
1964

Fairs

The Armory Show
Javits Center 655 W 34th Street
September 24 - September 27, 2026
Booth 202
The Armory Show

Public Collections

Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston
Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Art Gallery of York University / Goldfarb Gallery, Toronto
Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown
Glenbow Museum, Calgary
Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal
Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery, Victoria
SFU Gibson Art Museum, Burnaby
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver
Musée d’art de Joliette, Joliette
Museum London, London
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Nickle Galleries, Calgary
Owens Art Gallery, Sackville
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec City
Remai Modern, Saskatoon
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa
University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa
Alberta Art Foundation, Edmonton
Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina
University of Alberta Art Collection, Edmonton
University of Calgary Art Gallery, Calgary
University of Victoria Art Collection, Victoria
University of British Columbia Art Collection, Vancouver
Government of Canada / Department of External Affairs Art Collection, Ottawa