String Beans is the earliest example of Robert Kobayashi's work included in our ADAA presentation. Striking in its simplicity, String Beans introduces several key throughlines emblematic of the artist's practice. Initially we are mesmerized by the densely packed dots, thousands upon thousands, creating a gentle ocular flicker. Further consideration reveals Kobayashi's legendarily playful, dry sense of humor. Resting in the aesthetic oasis between surreal landscape and color-blindness test, String Beans challenges and delights in the absence of its titular vegetable — to paraphrase, sometimes a string bean is not a string bean, sometimes it's an eggplant.