Keiji Ishida in conversation with Prof David Rayson, RCA

13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP

Organised by The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

Drawing away from the conventions of story books, Keiji Ishida’s works explore the significance of images when they are set free from the written word. The image, reconstructed as a new point of departure, invites the viewer into a space in which the decontextualised illustrations can narrate alternative stories.

Keiji Ishida will be joined in conversation by Professor David Rayson, Head of Painting at the Royal College of Art.

They will discuss Ishida’s practice and current exhibition, particularly the relationship between painting and illustration, the significance of detaching images from their intended narrative roles, and how a world populated by storybook characters serves the artist’s concerns now as an adult.

About the contributors

Keiji Ishida

Keiji Ishida (b. 1975, Chiba, Japan) received a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London. He has been featured in numerous exhibitions across the UK, such as Artbelowzeroº, Westbourne Studios, London (2008); Designing 21st Century Structures in Art and Architecture, Embankment Galleries, Somerset House, London (2009); The National Open Art Competition 2010, Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester (2010); and Artworks Open 2013, Artworks Project Space, London (2013). Ishida is the winner of the 2007 Brenda Landon Pye Portrait Prize.

Professor David Rayson

David Rayson was appointed Professor and Head of Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2006. He is a practising artist, tutor and curator and his work has been exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. His work is included in major collections including the Tate, Whitechapel Art Gallery, British Council, Deutsche Bank, Rubell Family Collection, Brooklyn Museum, Fogg Museum Harvard and the Contemporary Art Society.