I was always intrigued by the 17th century Dutch still-life genre paintings, “Vanitas” and its symbolism as a cautionary tale about the transitory nature of beauty and pleasure in life. My Vanitas series is an attempt to marry the tradition and my interest in exploration of figurative art to express my interpretation of the theme by using the symbolism as a common language. The driving force of these pieces was one of the questions that runs through all of my artistic expressions from the beginning: how to capture ever-changing and eluding beauty that exudes a sense of existential mystery before it disappears. I feel the awareness of this fragility and brevity of what we find beautiful gives us the more heightened perception of our ephemeral existence and makes the experience of beauty even more poignant.
Hiroshi Hayakawa works in various mediums including photography, drawings, paintings, sculptures and paper crafts. He has exhibited his works both in the US and abroad in numerous solo and group shows and his works are owned by many public and private collectors. He shows his work at Sharon Weiss Gallery in Columbus OH, Galerie Fledermaus in Chicago IL and Gallery Sumire in Tokyo, Japan. Hiroshi has received several awards for his works including 2nd place at Shades of Gray Competition by DRAWING magazine (2016), Purchase Award at 59th Mid-States Art Exhibition by Evansville Museum, Evansville, IN (2018), Best of Show at the 74th Annual May Show by Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield, OH (2019), 1st place by Manifest Gallery International Drawing Annual 13, Cincinnati, OH (2019), Best in Show at Bryn Du Art Center Annual Juried Show, Granville, OH (2020), and Exceptional Merit Award at Portrait Society of America International competition (2023, 2024). He is a three-time recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. He lives in Columbus and teaches at Columbus College of Art & Design.