Eiji Ishikawa

In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a worldview centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. Wabi-sabi, rooted in Zen Buddhism recognizes three simple realities or signs of existence (三法印, sanbōin), namely that: nothing is eternal, all things are imperfect, and all things are incomplete. The characteristics of wabi-sabi aesthetics and principles therefore include and celebrate the pleasure of simplicity, intimacy, asymmetry, roughness, economy, conservation, modesty, and appreciation of both natural objects and the forces of nature In complete contrast to classical Western aesthetic ideals of beauty and perfection, symmetry and finesse, wabi-sabi is instead harsh and realistic: nothing lingers, nothing is perfect What wabi-sabi teaches is that by accepting imperfection, one is able to get closer to the "true essence" of the object, rendering all embellishments futile, valuing the unique properties of its experience, understanding that everything inherently has imperfections. No two pieces of wood, steel or stone are and never will be identical. Looking at Eiji Ishikawa's works, there is no perfection, no symmetry, and not even prescribed and canonical formal and aesthetic rules. What our eyes see are clusters of matter, pure and saturated pigments thrown on the support, scratches, crumbles and cracks. Absolute perfection is not contemplated and yet, we are fascinated by the matter that thickens and then thins, by the pigment that changes color as if it were the product of a chemical reaction Observing "Agartha" one gets precisely this impression A bluish green color illuminates our gaze It is clear, clear, almost glassy in its essence. Millennial ice about to melt. At a certain point, the crisp turquoise expanse breaks. Around it, brown reliefs. Burnt earth obscuring the glassy texture. Brown patches of pigment and matter pile on top of each other until they form real reliefs surrounding the azure. Like an atoll in a tropical sea, the burnished belt envelops the turquoise clarity. Yet, there is something, a level of understanding of the work that we have yet to grasp. Something that escapes our minds, convinced of the immutability of things and the rigidity of the theories that determine our existence. The conformation of the work is a clear reference to its title, "Agartha," which is nothing but a legendary realm that would be found within the Earth, described in the works of various writers including Willis George Emerson Home to the mythical king of the world, fabled Agartha is linked to the Hollow Earth theory and is a popular subject in esotericism. In this work its conformation is taken up, and there is a sense that the physiognomy of the work-and of the realm-is the final outcome of his mind's wanderings among various states of consciousness. The final outcome of the work is the end of this journey and, all the layers of which it is composed, the color overlays and the relief material are irrefutable proof that, that work had a gestation thought out, taken up, reworked and modified over and over again It is obvious that the artist, does not want to focus on the outcome of the creation, the latter is a side effect of the creative process that unabashedly invests Eiji producing works with rough and scratchy outcomes, almost corporeal and carnal in their materiality. Imperfect examples of a thought in motion.

Art Curator Lisa Galletti