Ichi Tashiro「verve」

Gallery Common is pleased to present “verve”, a solo exhibition by Ichi Tashiro, from November 23 to December 22, 2024.

“verve” will be the first in-depth presentation of the new sculptural approach to abstraction that Tashiro has been exploring and refining over the past two years. In this new series of works, Tashiro combines elements of carving, sculpting, and mark-making with the paper collage techniques that distinguished his previous body of work. By equating the process of carving and pasting to scarring and healing, Tashiro’s works become body-like vessels that represent the cycle of trauma and transformation, capturing the beauty of the complex human experience.

In recent years, Tashiro’s work has moved away from surrealist imagery towards expansive emotional landscapes. As is often true in Tashiro’s work, each painting is encoded with personal significance, serving as spiritual containers for his daily emotions. Most noticeably, he has departed from the two-dimensional picture plane. Interacting with his panels using sculpting and engraving tools, he now creates works that emit the powerful presence of concrete physical bodies.

The current works begin as carved wooden reliefs, onto which the artist pastes layers of paper that are then imbued with oil-based ink. As in his previous pieces, Tashiro remains loyal to paper as a core element of his works. The material not only allows for varied surface textures, but also allows for the possibility of three-dimensional form. Using sculpted mounds of paper, Tashiro adds ridges and protrusions that balance the dips and hollows in the wood.

The inclusion of oil-based ink marks a new evolution in Tashiro’s approach, and his first time incorporating such heavy gestural application of pigments. Applied with intense movement and deliberate detail in turns, he transforms the surface into energetic expressions of pure emotion, incorporating an element of unpredictability and serendipity to an otherwise meticulous process.

Combining aggressive carving, heavy-handed strokes, clashing colors, and contrasting textures, Tashiro’s unorthodox modes of mark-making disrupt the conventions of painting. The etched surfaces, unlike the flat expanse of a canvas, bring about a tactile experience that gives us insight into Tashiro’s deep physical connection to each work. Importantly, in transforming the picture plane into a topographical one, Tashiro’s works no longer serve as mirrors or portals; rather, they evoke the malleable flesh of the fragile and imperfect human body. Textured and layered, the surfaces seem to resemble our own skin, marred with flaws and yet sustained by an invisible, unceasing life force. The process of engraving, layering, and coloring is, to the artist, like the process of regeneration that follows a wound. The works thus become sites of catharsis. Bearing the imprint of raw emotion, the works express Tashiro’s reverence for human resilience, embodying a universal narrative of survival that prompts a shared meditation on the beauty of transformation.