Tetsuya ishida untitled presentation

Nick Simunovic, Gagosian’s senior director in Asia, was living in Hong Kong thirteen years ago when he was first introduced to the striking, melancholy and at times chilling paintings of Japanese artist Tetsuya Ishida.

He was “immediately astonished and captivated by the material” and subsequently shared the works with gallery founder Larry Gagosian, who “was equally amazed,” Simunovic told Observer.

Now, more than 80 works have come together for Gagosian’s Tetsuya Ishida: My Anxious Self, the most extensive exhibition of Ishida’s work in the U.S.

thus far. The month-long show at the gallery’s 555 West 24th Street location opened yesterday (September 12) and showcases Ishida’s reflections on the alienation, corporate numbness and technological advancements of Japan’s “Lost Decade” recession in the 1990s.

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