In Assholes, Motoko Ishibashi presents a new body of work alongside a series of photographs made with artist Urara Tsuchiya, and fashion photographer Yuto Kudo. Together, they create a fragmented bath scene that “considers relations of power, gender, the body and selfhood within technologically-mediated society”.
Ishibashi’s large acrylic paintings feature close-up and glossy crops of butts of those we know and love – Jennifer Lopez, Rafael Nadal and co. – from stills of their on-screen appearances. In crisply lit and electrifying compositions, Ishibashi mimics the direction of our gaze when consuming digital media, always downwards, zooming in with two thumbs when we can.
The photographs, which occupy two walls in a lawless constellation, depict Tsuchiya and Ishibashi in campy dress-up around a Japanese bathhouse in various poses that defy conventional bathing etiquette – sipping sake, stretching and smoking simultaneously, arranging vegetables. The relationship between the paintings and photographs elicit heady and sexy feelings. Look one way and you are greeted with Nadal’s taught crotch through his soft, white shorts, look the other and silver faced women in business-leather jackets are precariously balancing their laptops above the water they dip their bare legs into, their own crotches protected by shimmering strips of fabric. Blending western pop-culture references and the visual language of traditional Japanese culture, Ishibashi’s work is “a self-conscious negotiation of the politics of looking and being looked at – a process that she herself is complicit in”. Though flirtatious and irreverent, Assholes questions our compulsive obsessions with the bodies of others, online and in communal spaces. Pants and socks litter the gallery floor, remaining sweetly scrunched where they were flung or stepped out of before someone slipped into the bath, naked and contemplating.Assholesis on view at London’s V.O Curations until July 15th.
Hazard 2021 Acrylic on canvas 150 x 250 cm.
On hard 2021 Acrylic on canvas 200 x 200 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo Vegetables 1 2021 C-type print, edition of 25 52 x 42 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo Zoom 2 2021 C-type print, edition of 15 80 x 64 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo Entrance 3 2021 C-type print, edition of 15 87 x 70 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo Resting 1 2021 C-type print, edition of 15 70 x 56 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo Vegetables 4 2021 C-type print, edition of 25 42 x 52 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi’s Assholes
Text by Molly Cranston
In Assholes, Motoko Ishibashi presents a new body of work alongside a series of photographs made with artist Urara Tsuchiya, and fashion photographer Yuto Kudo. Together, they create a fragmented bath scene that “considers relations of power, gender, the body and selfhood within technologically-mediated society”.
Ishibashi’s large acrylic paintings feature close-up and glossy crops of butts of those we know and love – Jennifer Lopez, Rafael Nadal and co. – from stills of their on-screen appearances. In crisply lit and electrifying compositions, Ishibashi mimics the direction of our gaze when consuming digital media, always downwards, zooming in with two thumbs when we can.
The photographs, which occupy two walls in a lawless constellation, depict Tsuchiya and Ishibashi in campy dress-up around a Japanese bathhouse in various poses that defy conventional bathing etiquette – sipping sake, stretching and smoking simultaneously, arranging vegetables. The relationship between the paintings and photographs elicit heady and sexy feelings. Look one way and you are greeted with Nadal’s taught crotch through his soft, white shorts, look the other and silver faced women in business-leather jackets are precariously balancing their laptops above the water they dip their bare legs into, their own crotches protected by shimmering strips of fabric. Blending western pop-culture references and the visual language of traditional Japanese culture, Ishibashi’s work is “a self-conscious negotiation of the politics of looking and being looked at – a process that she herself is complicit in”. Though flirtatious and irreverent, Assholes questions our compulsive obsessions with the bodies of others, online and in communal spaces. Pants and socks litter the gallery floor, remaining sweetly scrunched where they were flung or stepped out of before someone slipped into the bath, naked and contemplating. Assholes is on view at London’s V.O Curations until July 15th.
Hazard
2021
Acrylic on canvas
150 x 250 cm.
On hard
2021
Acrylic on canvas
200 x 200 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo
Vegetables 1
2021
C-type print, edition of 25
52 x 42 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo
Zoom 2
2021
C-type print, edition of 15
80 x 64 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo
Entrance 3
2021
C-type print, edition of 15
87 x 70 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo
Resting 1
2021
C-type print, edition of 15
70 x 56 cm.
Motoko Ishibashi, Urara Tsuchiya, Yuto Kudo
Vegetables 4
2021
C-type print, edition of 25
42 x 52 cm.
Images courtesy of V.O Curations