Sometimes I feel disconnected.
Disconnected to the changing of the seasons and the world of nature.
Most days I come into the studio, sit in front of a computer and don't breathe a bresh of fresh air until I leave again in the evening. In the darkness of a Scottish winter, that can get to be pretty depressing, which is why Spring is especially welcome with it's lighter nights.
It's easy too, to feel futher disconnected from the natural world as technology continues to have a greater and greater impact on our daily lives.
Instead of liberaring us, sometimes you can feel trapped by the constant ringing of your phone and the pinging of never ending emails and it goes without saying just how anti social, social media can make you feel!
One artist who felt this deeply was the late Japanese surrealist painter Tetsuya Ishida. His work is well known for his often dark portrayal of Japanese life.
The main characters in his work are depicted as being trapped by society and the need to conform. On occasuions he is stuck in a machine-like body, or treated as part of a production line.
These are lives of quiet desperation and forlorn struggle, where modern life has transformed them for the worse.
Ishida died aged 31 when he was accidentally killed by a train in 2005.
There are some aspects of his works that still intrigue his art critics. One of most discussed topics is a recurring motif found in the majority of Ishida's works: a plastic shopping bag. Ishida had consistently refused to explain the purpose and the meaning of the shopping bag. With Ishida gone, the question mark over the shopping bag motif is likely to remain for good...
I'll bet this has cheered you right up, just in perfect time for the weekend.
Queen Marie
x
