UNTITLED (FRIT011) by Fumi Ishino

2014
From the series Rowing a Tetrapod
Archival pigment print
20 x 25 in 
Edition 2 of 3
Framed

“I am interested in images that look familiar and recognizable, but actually contain opposing content. I enjoy mixing conflicting elements that cannot be easily identified in order to seek diverse interpretations… I believe that some questions can stay as they are. It is too complex for me to have one answer. I am not interested in categorizing things as good or bad, black or white, and yes or no. I hope that my investigation of identity allows me to focus on the process of questioning, not answering.” 

—Fumi Ishino, from his interview with Giangiacomo Cirla for Phroom

Fumi Ishino’s series Rowing a Tetrapod brings together a fluctuating array of black and white photographs made in multiple locations in the United States and Japan, between which countries emerging artist Fumi Ishino has resided. The work channels his nomadic experience of moving back and forth between two distinct cultures, with divergent social norms and values. Blurring distinctions between the local and the foreign, the domestic and the cosmic, Rowing a Tetrapod delights in confusing cultural conceptions, fabricating an imaginary space that is bent towards misinterpretation.

Throughout the series and in this specific piece, we explore the inconsistency of precision, what is real and fictional, what is genuine and staged. Visual language acts as the artist's flexible tool to experiment with attempts to convey ideologies, values, and concepts among different environments. 

Fumi Ishino is an artist based in Los Angeles and Tokyo whose work explores issues of meaning, cultural interpretation, and the constructed space primarily through photography and installation. He holds an MFA from Yale University where he was awarded the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship. Other awards include the Japan Photo Award (2015) and the Honorable Mention Award from New Cosmos Photography (2015). His work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions including Fraenkel Gallery, the FLAG Art Foundation, and Houston Center for Photography, and has been featured in publications including Aperture Magazine, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts, and AnOther. His books include Rowing a Tetrapod (MACK, 2017), Tinted Lines (torch press, 2021), and Index of Fillers (Assembly, 2021).

Archival pigment prints use refined pigment particles to create exquisite, high-resolution artwork. This printing method creates museum-quality artwork designed to last; ink and paper are critical elements in an archival pigment print’s life span.