Under Martial Law (L'Etat de Siège) I 戒厳状態 I

Shigeo Ishii was born in Tokyo in 1933. He graduated from the department of the Bunka Gakuin in 1950. That same year, his work was accepted for the first time in The 24th Kokuga-kai Exhibition. His early paintings were figurative and influenced by Surrealism. Around 1955 he added an element of satire to his work. These paintings were filled with images of deformed bodies and cities in ruins. Their fierce cynicism was a challenge to the false pacifism and complacency of the time. In addition to oil paintings, he made many drawings and etchings with sharp, tough lines. Around 1960 he began making collages with photographs, expressing negative feelings with images of violence and anxiety. Although the war had ended and recovery was underway, the people were still haunted by vague fears and a sense of crisis. Ishii’s art reflected this mood with bitter humor. Ishii produced all of his work within a single decade. His friends recall that he was standoffish, did not try to please other people, and was not afraid to make provocative statements. He was plagued with poor health, suffering from asthma since childhood. This led him to observe the changing society around him with the clinical viewpoint of an outsider, and he responded sensitively to the troubled conditions of fifties Japan. He pursued a new form of realism in which he was able to express more than could be obtained with simple verisimilitude. He died suddenly at age 28 in 1962.