KEISUKE ISHINO

Inspired by anime cartoons, self-taught Japanese artist Keisuke Ishino’s bright, bold origami figures combine the influences of Japanese popular culture and traditional craft. Born 1987, Ishino’s figurines represent a key focus of his prolific output, completing as many as 300 a year. Constructed from two-dimensional drawings made with colourful markers, their transformation into three-dimensional forms suggests a powerful physical presence. Ishino has created his paper figures since childhood.

Recently, he moved to an institution with a studio for disabled artists in Japan and has started to create drawings and three-dimensional artworks featuring numbers and Chinese lettering. Ishino’s work has appeared in many exhibitions of Japanese Outsider Art across Japan and throughout Europe. In the UK, his work featured in the exhibition Souzou at the Wellcome Collection in 2013, and at Prismatic Minds at Flowers Gallery in 2021.

2023 Why We Linger, Darbyshire, London
2022 Outsider Art Fair, Metropolitan Pavilion in New York, with Jennifer Lauren Gallery
2021 Prismatic Minds, Flowers Gallery, London
2013 Souzou: Outsider Art from Japan, Wellcome Collection, London