SCOTOMA : Tomoaki Ishihara

press release

Ishihara creates works in various forms including sculpture, 3-D photo, color or b/w photographs and oil on canvas, and through these mediums he experiments with his thoughts challenging the formula of art and society.

“Scotoma” is a term that means “blind spot”, thus describing the inability to understand or perceive certain matters. It is also the name of an illness that is marked by a permanent or temporary area of depressed or absent vision.
Ishihara thinks that scotoma exists physically or mentally throughout society.

In the exhibition, he exhibited an evacuated sphere made from glass that hung from the ceiling with thin wire. The transparent object displays no clues as to whether the inside is really evacuated or not. Ishihara wanted to make the evacuated air noticeable by creating this glass object floating in space. The work is thus another version of a blind spot that alludes to something people donユt want to see or cannot see unless they are willing to do so.

The term “Scotography” refers to a print taken by abnormal light such as the invisible rays of the X-ray and electron. Ishihara’s “scotographic” self-portraits were also juxtaposed into the show. The ‘self-port’ photographs were taken by an electron microscope in order to achieve micro-images of the skin and hair of the artist. These photos appear to be black and white abstractions or landscapes, and can hardly be recognized as portraits of the artist. Ishiihara’s intention here is to subvert the concept of the self-portrait and the image of oneユs self.