Eri Ishii: New Works

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Eri Ishii, "Landscape," 2016

oil on canvas, 20″ x 20″. Photo credit Derek von Essen

Vancouver artist Eri Ishii returns with a new selection of figurative and landscape works for her new show Wrapped. Included are 21 paintings and drawings which visually explore themes of safety and security. Ishii constructs her imagery by drawing on visual fragments of memory, exploring the psychological residue of our experiences and how we relate to them as we age. In Cocoon a boy stands enveloped by an aura of white fluff that encircles him, depicting the sensation of warmth and comfort without resorting to sentimentality. In To Norman, Eri expresses how it felt to be in the presence of her late mentor Norman Yates by painting a chapel, illuminated by a soft flood of cascading, colourful light.

This collection finds Ishii deepening the pursuit of her interests, growing her ouevre and refining her visual language. Trying to grasp the figure in motion, Eri creates movement by directly applying paint without preliminary drawings, resulting in a dynamic, colourful, and painterly aesthetic. In our minds eye, the subjects are imprinted as a kinetic blur thus depictions embody a visual paradox whereby the figure attempts to establish or retain a form and sense of place in the distorted, lush caverns of recollections.