Yo Ishihara: Who

■Statement
“Who”
Encountering “Someone” is a lot harder than we think.
By “Someone”, I mean a person or thing for which there is no substitute, a presence referred to as “Who” by the post-war philosopher Hannah Arendt. “Who” are those people or things that appear for a brief moment between the seams of our everyday life and exist without attribute or preconception. Staring into the crowd, we see them with our gaze, take notice, and meet.
I have tried to capture that image in my paintings.

■Concepts
Who Series
The “Who” series is based on the word assigned by philosopher Hannah Arendt for a presence that has no substitute, as opposed to “what”, which is a presence that relies on specific characteristics. In the contemporary age of excess information, we are no longer able to effectively process information in its entirety and instead rely on easy categorization of people and things to sustain our lifestyle. Through my paintings, I seek to encourage people to reconsider that stance. As each painting is a unique piece, my hope is that they can capture a moment which has no substitute. That goal developed into this series, which is focused on figurative images of humans.

Note to Self Series
For me, the act of painting is an act of capture. As implied by the title “Note to Self”, this series focuses on things that are relatively trivial and easy to forget.

Invalid Signal Series
When we see someone injured, we feel the same pain, even though we ourselves are not injured. This phenomenon is a function of our mirror neurons. On the other hand, we also have a function called “invalid signal” that enables us to forget the pain. It seems that humans are able to connect and disconnect with others at different times. I imagine that specific situations trigger this connection or disconnection and have tried to capture that notion in these works.

veil of ignorance Series
The “Veil of Ignorance” series is named after a thought experiment proposed by philosopher John Rawls. Rawls theorized that if all people wore a veil of ignorance as they determined the rules of justice, they would believe themselves to be in a position of potential social disadvantage and create rules with that in mind. In contrast, my paintings pose the question of whether it is possible, in contemporary society, to have a shared image of social disadvantage. The nature of the figures in the paintings is determined by the people who view them.