I.S.M. (Ray)
I.S.M.（光）
- Birth Year
- 1959
- Death Year
- -
- Date
- 1989
- Technique, Material, Format
- cowhide, wood, cotton yarn, foamed styrol
- Dimension
- 120.0 x 400.0 x 400.0 cm
- Donor name
- Sambi Shosha (Mr. Ueda Kuniaki and Mrs. Ueda Katsuko)
- Category
- Sculpture or Three-dimensional Work by Japanese Artist
- Inventory Number
- 2004-SJ-001
This work consists of a three-dimensional object made of leather held together with coarse stitching. It was made by sewing together the hides of several cows. Although it is classified as sculpture, there is no base supporting the three-dimensional form, and it is unclear whether the object is in fact hollow or it contains something. The title suggests the English term “-ism,” though with a period between each letter. “I.S.M.” is an important series of works within the oeuvre of Ishihara Tomoaki, who from the 1980s onwards used a range of media to make art using his own body as a motif. The leather surface here is certainly evocative of human skin, but equally important is the object’s lens-like shape, formed by the interplay between internal and external pressures. It may also be a reflection of Ishihara’s conception of his own body.
(MINAMISHIMA Ko)