Ko Kirk Yamahira, a Seattle-based contemporary artist, redefines the textile medium through methodical deconstruction. By partially unraveling canvas, he blurs the boundary between painting and sculpture, turning the flat surface into a three-dimensional form. This process deliberately engages with and reinterprets craft traditions by focusing on the material's innate tactility, fragility, and underlying structure. By revealing its hidden geometric patterns and raw potential, Yamahira's work pushes the boundaries of what is possible with a familiar textile.

The resulting pieces cultivate a dialogue between controlled forms and organic flow, reflecting on the nature of time, transformation, and the fluid boundaries between art and craft. This conversation between opposing forces - tension and release, surface and form, presence and absence - animates his work with a powerful, minimalist elegance. His tactile works inhabit and redefine space, often draping elegantly from walls and ceilings.

Yamahira's work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Frye Art Museum, Meta, Microsoft, the Port of Portland, and King County Public Art Collections. His practice has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the inaugural Grand Prize from the Alden Mason Foundation (2024) and the Kayla Skinner Special Recognition Award from the Seattle Art Museum (2017).

I consider that the subjectivity is formed through the repetitive process of deconstructing the existing objects, and ruminating on such process. There is no specific aim to find a meaning, neither in the creative act itself, nor through the creative process. The totality of the meaning can be found in the continuation of the process. Therefore the reason for the creative act would be found in different inquiry.

The obsession of pursuit of the meaning is unlocked by the pure enjoyment of creative act. The obsession in turn would release the meaning of the search by forgetting the initial inquiry. There are innumerable ways to enact the process, however there is one answer to the result of the process. Within the answer contains two opposing perspectives that has no hierarchy. The point of view, both subjective and objective, as well as the scale of the perception would affect the location of the answer. I sense the distance to the answer gets ever more shorter as I repeat the inquiry.

The answer certainly exists in the past and it could simply be overlooked. The past always has the potential for the new discoveries for me. Since the inquiry originates within my mind, thus the approach to look and find the answer can change completely. It shifts while depending of my state of mind. So it is both firm, as well as transient. Creation of the artworks comes after my deconstructive process on already existing canvas, separating vertical and horizontal threads. The totality of the meaning can be found in the continuation of the process. Therefore the reason for the creative act would be found in different inquiry.

2026
"the threshold of thought and appearance" studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
"American Loom, Pier56", Mithun Design Threshold Gallery, Seattle, WA
2025
"the moment of immersing themselves in the same space in front of the piece, untitled" Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR
2023
“the front to the reverse to what is in between,” Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR
2022
studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
2021
“New Works,” SOIL Gallery, Seattle, WA
2020
“fractions" Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR
"Emily Counts & Ko Kirk Yamahira" studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
Shunpike, Seattle, WA
2019
4Culture, Seattle, WA
Deluge Contemporary Art, Victoria, BC
2018
Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR
"Ko Kirk Yamahira” Curated by Amanda Donnan, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
SOIL Gallery, Seattle, WA (2015, 2017, 2018)
"Storefront 2018" South Lake Union, Shunpike, Seattle, WA
2017
"Deconstruction And Reconstruction” Sun Gallery, Seattle, WA
"Deconstruction” Mithun Design Threshold Gallery, Seattle, WA
"Deconstruction,” Integrus Architecture, Seattle, WA

2018–2026 Untitled, Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA
2024 Northwest School Now, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA), Bainbridge Island, WA
2022 "The Third Meaning: ESTAR (SER) Installs Frye Collection" Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
2021 “Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Art” Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA

2026
Public Projects Seattle Art Fair, represented by studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
Seattle Art Fair, represented by studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
2025
"Vitamin P:NW, Recent Painting in the Pacific Northwest" Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA
Seattle Art Fair, represented by studio e gallery and Russo Lee Gallery, Seattle, WA
MR. Salon Wall - studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
2024
"Unveiling the One, MoNA’s Collectors Club presents" Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA
Seattle Art Fair, represented by studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
"Northwest School Now” Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge Island, WA
"TOKICO” studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
2023
"The Pike Overlook" Curated by fruitsuper” USBC Cedar Hall, Seattle, WA
Seattle Art Fair, represented by studio e gallery and Russo Lee Gallery, Seattle, WA
"Understory: Connection through creativity and fine art" Curator Tami Landis, Paper Whale, Canopy Gallery, Bow, WA
2022
"Meander" Curated by fruitsuper, Foundry Vineyards, Walla Walla, WA
Portable Collection, City of Bellevue Art Program, Bellevue City Hall / Bellevue, WA
"PICNIC" studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
Seattle Art Fair, represented by Russo Lee Gallery and studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
2021
“Light & Graphite,” A lantern in the hand on a dark winter night, studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
Russo Lee Gallery, Portland, OR
2020
“American Contemporary Craft,” The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX
“Fiber2020” The Bainbridge Island Museum of Contemporary Art, Bainbridge Island, WA
"PAUSE/PLAY: Gallery 4Culture Online" 4culture.org, Seattle, WA
"The Seattle Deconstructed Art Fair 2020 - SDAF" studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
Shunpike, Seattle, WA
2019
Seattle Art Fair, represented by Russo Lee Gallery, Seattle, WA
“Prepped,” Community Education Gallery, Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA
San Francisco Art Fair, represented by Russo Lee Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“By and By: Hope for the Future” presented by Durden & Ray and SOIL, Los Angeles, CA
2018
"Drawn Out" Curated by Zack Bent, SPAC gallery, Seattle, WA
"The Harvest" Curated by Sequoia Day O'Connell, Bridge Productions, Seattle, WA
"The Veil” Curated by Sequoia Day O'Connell, Bridge Productions, Seattle, WA
“Becoming American” SOIL gallery, San Juan National Historic Park and various locations in Seattle, WA
2017
"Interstate: Where I-90 Meets I-82,” Biennial National Juried Exhibit, Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, Ellensburg, WA
"Seven Bodies - New Members Show" SOIL gallery, Seattle, WA
"Bellingham National Juried Art Exhibition and Awards Juried by Catharina Manchanda” The Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA

Soho House Portland, Portland, OR
USBC Public Art Collection, Seattle, WA
City of Bellevue, Bellevue, WA
Frye Art Museum, Seattle WA
King County Public Art Collection, Seattle, WA
Meta (Facebook), Seattle, WA
Microsoft Collection, Seattle, WA
Port of Portland, Portland, OR
Westin Hotel, Tempe, AZ

Alden Mason Foundation Grand Prize Award, Alden Mason Foundation, Seattle, WA
The Kayla Skinner Special Recognition Award, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Bellingham National Juried Art Exhibition and Awards, The Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
Interstate: Where I-90 Meets I-82,” Biennial National Juried Exhibit, Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, Ellensburg, WA

Remark, Gallery 4Culture, featuring 100 Gallery 4Culture alumni, spanning the program’s 40 year history
Palm Springs Architectural Feature, Elle Décor, October

Rachel Silva and Lucia Tonelli "45 + Midcentury Modern Living Rooms That Put Retro Back on the Map" Elle Decor, elledecor.com
Lydia Lee "Think you know Palm Springs modern? just wait until you see this house." Elle Decor, elledecor.com
Gore, Sydney, “Welcome to Demi Lovato’s Trippy Modern Farmhouse” architecture+design
architectural digest, Photography: Jenna Peffley, Styled by Kat Bell
“Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Art,” Frye Art Museum
Lafo, Rachel Rosenfield, “Unwound and unbound: Ko Kirk Yamahira at Russo Lee Gallery,” Oregon Artswatch, orartswatch.org
Miller, Brianna, “Best in visual arts: Exhibits opening new decade will bring a touch of beauty to this Portland winter,” The Oregonian
Helmke, Juliet, “Seattle Art Fair, Despite New Challenges, Is a Site for Discovery,” Observer, observer.com
“Frye Art Museum Acquires Four Works from the Seattle Art Fair,” Artforum, artdaily.com
Speer, Richard, “Ko Kirk Yamahira: deconstruction and reconstruction,” Fabrik Magazine, pp. 118-119
Sturgis, Meshell, "Becoming Undone: Ko Kirk Yamahira at the Frye Art Museum,” Art Practical, artpractical.com
Vansynghel, Margo, "Ko Kirk Yamahira Deconstructs Abstraction at the Frye,” City Art, cityartsmagazine.com
"Finalists selected for the 2017 Betty Bowen Award," artdaily, artdaily.com
Cortes, Amber, "Meet the 2017 Betty Bowen Award Nominees," The Stranger, thestranger.com
Faigin, Gary, "Review: Diverse notions of drawing at the Whatcom Museum,” The Seattle Times, seattletimes.com
"Drawing Practice: Bellingham National Juried Art Exhibition and Awards,” SAM BLOG, Seattle Art Museum, seattleartmuseum.org