Tetsuya Ishida

Tetsuya Ishida (石田徹也) was a Japanese artist working in Tokyo. He was born in June 16, 1973 in Yaizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He died May 23, 2005, at the age of 31. His paintings were known for their dark portrayal of Japanese life. The characters in his painting appear unhappy and often their bodies are in pieces or part of some machine or other object. The artist left behind about 180 works created during his 10 year art career.

Contents 1 Art Career 2 Gallery 3 Death 4 After Death 5 External Links

Art Career

• 1992
  • Moves to Tokyo, Japan
  • Enters Musashino Art University.

• 1995
  • Grand Prize in graphics arts at 6th Hitotsubu Exhibition
  • Mainichi Design Award

• 1996
  • Graduates from Musashino Art University
  • Encouragement Prize at Mainichi Design Award
  • Solo Exhibition "Tadayou Hito" - Guardian Garden Gallery - Ginza, [[Tokyo, Japan

• 1997
  • Grand Prize JACA Japan Visual Art Exhibition

• 1998
  • Encouragement Prize at Kirin Contemporary Award
  • Christie's "Asia Avante Garde" Exhibition
  • The 7th Liquitex Biennale

• 1999
  • Solo Exhibition "Ishida Tetsuya" - Gallery Q&QS - Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
  • Nippon International Contemporary Art Art Festival

• 2001
  • Encouragement Prize at VOCA Exhibition
  • Group Exhibition "Kachu no hitobito" - Tokyo Zokei University

• 2003
  • Solo Exhibition "Tetsuya Ishida" - Gallery Iseyoshi - Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

• 2005
  • Dies May 23, 2005.

• 2006
  • Solo Retrospective Exhibition "Fear - the Hidden Sign" - Gallery Iseyoshi - Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
  • Solo Retrospective Exhibition "Drifter" - Guardian Garden Gallery - Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
  • Solo Retrospective Exhibition - Gallery Q - Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
  • Tetsuya Ishida "Posthumous Works" Book - Kyuryudo Publishing

Note: Much of the data in this section (Art Career) is from the book Tetsuya Ishida "Posthumous Works".

Gallery

From 2002 until his death, Tetsuya Ishida was represented by Gallery Iseyoshi in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan.

Death

Tetsuya Ishida died on May 23, 2005 at the age of 31 after being hit by a train. The official book of his works (published in 2006) lists the cause of death as "accident". Because of the dark nature of his work, however, many people consider his death to be a suicide. The issue of whether his death was suicide or accident is not agreed upon by fans of his work.

After Death

Because of the dark nature of his work, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death, interest in Ishida's work has increased dramatically since his 2005 passing. Two if his large pieces went up for auction at the Christie's "Asian Contemporary Art" sale in Hong Kong on November 26, 2006, with the final bid prices surprising many people. The 1998 piece "Collection" had an estimated value of about US$13,000 and ended up selling for nearly US$65,000 and the other piece, "Untitled" was estimated at about US$10,000 and sold for over US$100,000.

External Links

• Gallery Iseyoshi Official Site (English}
• Gallery Iseyoshi Official Site (Japanese)
• Kyuryudo Publishing Official Site (Japanese)