Hiroki Ishikawa (b. Japan, 1987) graduated from Goldsmith University with an MFA in Fine Art in 2019. His multidisciplinary practice includes video, performance, installation and photography. Following his participation in numerous group shows in both Japan and London, Temporary Satisfaction, his first solo exhibition in the UK, will be held at The Fitzrovia Gallery 6 to 11 January, 2020.

Ishikawa’s practice is an ongoing investigation of relationships between social structures and the individual. A residency in one of Japan’s depopulated rural regions in 2013 gave rise to questions concerning sustainability of capitalism and its bearings on human beings. Drawing on the macroeconomic theories of economist John M. Keynes, he explores the impact of laissez-faire on circumstances that are fundamental to a coherent existence.
Time is a recurring theme in Ishakawa’s work. Changes to perception of time, and an involuntary acceptance of pace instilled by industrialisation, are documented by the artist across various media. The three-channel video installation, Arrhythmia is a dystopian portrait of twenty-first century humankind. Arrhythmia, the medical term for irregular heartbeat, occurs when a person undergoes emotional stress, such as fear, and can be fatal unless regulated. Ishikawa ascribes the syndrome to entire Western civilizations, and he does not intend to draw a line between viewer and protagonist: the viewer, encountering multiple screens and sounds of heartbeat, naturally experiences a light sensation of arrhythmia.
Observations made by the artist as an employee in a toy industry, further prompted scepticism of machine-led production and its role in unsettling the natural rhythm of human labour. The outcome of these observations was a series of works in which the artist staged situations, performing the role of provocateur by bringing a plaster cast of a life-size sculpture-figure on his daily commute or formulating a letter to Michelangelo, gently explaining that the Renaissance masters’ sculptures have no place in a society possessed with technology and speed.

Temporary Satisfaction continues the themes explored in Ishikawa’s graduation exhibition, with a presentation of new sculptural work, video and photography. The new exhibition closes with an evening event, open to public 6 – 9pm, on 11 January 2020.
Ishikawa graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts with a BFA and MFA, and from Goldsmith University of London, with an MFA. He was selected by POLA ART FOUNDATION for support 2019 – 2020.
Previous exhibitions include Goldsmith’s Degree Show 2019 (London), Nakanojo Biennale 2019 (Japan), Gold X, Deptford X (London), All Places Shall Be Hell That Is Not Heaven, Bilt Mansion (London), Surge, Somerset House (London), Artist in Residence, Riverpal Gokase (Miyazaki).

Fitzrovia Gallery
139 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 5EN
6th-11th January 2020
12:00-18:00 (closing party 18:00-21:00 on 11th)