GR gallery is pleased to announce “Made To Appear” a two person exhibition featuring artists Viraj Khanna and Brian Robertson, whose works merge traditional textile techniques, contemporary imagery and cultural commentary to examine emotionally residual forms and the performative nature of today’s social media-driven world. Pushing beyond the rules of craft and fine arts, the exhibition presents mixed media threaded works that challenge perceptions of materiality, identity, and community by offering a timely exploration of modern life through texture and form. What the viewer encounters is not immediate or neutral, but constructed to produce a specific visual and emotional impression; on a perceptible level in fact the works resist instant recognition: embroidered surfaces initially register as paintings or digital images, revealing their textile nature only through closer observation. The title therefore reflects the tension between what appears to be seen and what is physically present, allowing the exhibition to operate in an intentionally ambiguous space between image and object, authenticity and construction. ‘Made To Appear’ will present new series of artworks created specifically for this occasion, marking the gallery’s first collaboration with both artists.
Opening reception: Thursday June 18, 6:00pm – 8:00pm (Exhibition Dates: June 19 – August 1, 2026). Members of the press can contact GR gallery in advance to schedule a private viewing and/or an interview with the artists.
GR gallery, 116 Chambers Street (btw Church & W. Broadway ) New York, NY 10007
On View through June 14:
Running from May 15 until June 14, the exhibition invites visitors into the vibrant world of the Japanese artist, presenting a suite of new works, including an equal ratio of paintings on canvas and their framed preparatory studies on paper. The series in this exhibition is strongly inspired by New York City most iconic art scene, with a specific focus on Andy Warhol and the Silver Factory. Born in Hokkaido in 1990, Kohei Yamada develops paintings that weave together fragments of art history, Japanese visual culture, and contemporary imagery into meticulously constructed compositions. His recurring figures act as vessels through which layered references—ranging from classical European painting to pop iconography—are reassembled and recontextualized. Through a highly detailed and deliberate technique, he creates surfaces that feel both historical and immediate. The resulting images exist in a suspended temporal space, where past and present collapse into one another.
