Tetsuo takes on Kurosawa

Artist and former lawyer Keisuke Kishi may be the quintessential face of the modern East, but judging by his work, he lives in a world that spans centuries.

Looking back 2000 years, his work calls to mind the massed ranks of the Terracotta Army of China’s Qin Dynasty, and going forward, it depicts an imaginary future populated by strange insects, angels and robots, referencing both Japan’s spiritual and warrior past and its technological future through a fascinating mix of subject matter, material, technique and style.

Kishi’s work is as diverse as its timespan is broad. Falling into two disciplines, graphic illustration and sculpture, he has created in just a few years an impressive array of work that includes the Archangel series of figurative clay pieces that look like puppet versions of the weird hybrid toys created by Sid in Pixar’s Toy Story, the Insects of Wonder, a collection of 3D insects that use everyday ephemera like paint tubes and fans, and the computer graphic series Amazing Machines, which mix psychedelic colours and computer-generated imagery to startling effect.

There’s a rich vein of imagination that runs through his work, whether it takes two or three dimensions. There’ll be lots of things it reminds you of, but you won’t have seen anything else like it.

Visit The Art of Keisuke Kishi at The Gallery @ Oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, London SE1 from 6 to 22 May.

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