Delirious Metropolis exhibition: Interview with Toru Ishii

The DAJF’s next exhibition is ‘Delirious Metropolis’, a showcase of popular culture that is expressed through the traditional Japanese craft of yuzen dyeing. The artist, Toru Ishii, represents the new generation of Japanese artists who are keenly aware of Japan’s sophisticated craft traditions but experiment openly with them to reach new horizons of expression. Ishii utilises the Itome Yuzen dyeing method to depict the iconography of modern society, extending the potential of this traditional art to reflect on modern life.

Ishii was born in Shizuoka, Japan, and received his Ph.D. in Textile Arts in 2014 from the Tokyo University of the Arts. He has exhibited extensively both in solo and group shows in and outside Japan. He has been awarded an Asahi Shimbun Foundation Grant, a Doctoral Program Final Exhibition Nomura Art Prize, a Yoshino Gypsum Art Foundation Grant and the Mitsubishi Corporation Art Gate Program.  

While he was installing his works at Japan House, the DAJF’s Philip Liu and Silvia Caso sat down with the artist for a quick chat about two of the pieces in his exhibition: On the Crossroads and Office Worker.

 

Thank you Toru-san for taking the time to have a chat with us, and welcome back to London.

Of course, thank you for your time as well. It’s great to be back in London- I did a Masters degree at the Chelsea College of Art six years ago, and lived near Dalston during that time. Dalston’s changed beyond recognition from when I was there!

Your artwork attempts to create a hybrid between traditional forms of art (in this case, Yuzen dyeing) with modern themes. Could you tell us a little more about that?

If you look at On the Crossroads (right, first and second images), my initial inspiration for that was seeing this mass of commuters at the station, all flowing into Tokyo for the morning rush-hour. The way all the commuters jostled for space reminded me a lot of the folding screen from the Edo period, depicting the Battle of Sekigahara, so On the Crossroads is perhaps how a modern battle might look like.

We notice that skeletons feature quite prominently- do they represent relics from the past?

The aim of my artwork is to not only mix the past and present, but also the future- to transcend these boundaries of time. I use an old form of craft for my canvas, but my subject matter also incorporates the future, and science fiction. The skeletons that you see were inspired by the metal endoskeleton in The Terminator, who travelled back in time and features in the present.

Office Worker (right, third and fourth images) is a very striking piece, with its red background and depiction of a stressed salaryman juggling various tasks (detail on the head of the sperm).

I chose the iconography of the sperm because the movements that it makes are similar to that of an office worker, who battles their way into work every morning. Office workers- especially in Japan- have it very tough, and they’re a common sight in Japanese cities, holding coffee or energy drinks in their hand and looking incredibly stressed. They always look like they have many things going on in their mind, all in search of their goal.

 

Toru Ishii: Delirious Metropolis opens on Tuesday 20 May, and runs until 15 July at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation. The gallery is open Monday-Friday, from 9.30am to 5pm, and admission is free.

Private View: 6-8pm, Tuesday 20 May 2014

Artist Talk: 6pm, 17 June 2014. By the artist Toru Ishii and Professor Lesley Millar, Director of the Anglo-Japanese Textile Research Centre, UCA (Booking essential)

For more details about these events, please visit www.dajf.org.uk/events/upcoming-events