Susumu Kamijo is a painter who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He currently has a solo show on view in Tokyo, Japan at Maki Gallery titled Beyond The Hills, and is also in a group show at Venus over Manhattan in NYC. We discuss his moving to the US at age 16, why talking to writers is better than painters, how poodles entered the work and how they have changed, mixing opposites, the poodle as an entranceway to his world, the intensity of De Kooning, feeling like your work is dorky, the absurdity of choosing to paint poodles, feeling the capacity to encompass the fucked up part of you, performing comedy in the past as a challenge, painting as an expression of the subconscious, letting unexpected things happen, finding joy in the studio, using meditation but trying not to be cringe about it, the earlier years, the importance of friends in his development, having faith that he would be able to make it as an artist, finding inspiration in other peoples death, his mentor relationship with Denzil Hurley, and a story about Susumu’s MFA experience.