ARTIST PROFILES:

Born 1969 in Tokyo, Japan; lives and works in Los Angeles.

Ichiro Irie has exhibited his work internationally in galleries and museums in Los Angeles, New York, Mexico City, Tokyo, London, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Holland, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, and Singapore. As a curator, he has organized over 40 exhibitions at venues such as 18th Street Arts Center and Raid Projects in Los Angeles; Art & Idea and MUCA Roma in Mexico City; Campbell Works in London; Videor Art Foundation in Frankfurt; and Kyubidou Gallery in Tokyo. He is the founder and editor of the contemporary art magazine RiM, active from 2002 to 2007. He has been the owner and director of the popular artist-run space JAUS in Los Angeles since 2009, and is an artist-in-residence at 18th Street Arts Center. Irie holds an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in California.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Just the nature of my work is very multi-disciplinary. I run a space called “Jaus” in West Los Angeles and I make my own work and organize exhibitions as well. And even within my work, my work ranges from very traditional painting to found object sculpture to video to performance.

I grew up here in the states but I didn't become a citizen until only a few years ago and everything. Since I've become a citizen, I’ve become more cautious of what it means to be American.

When I was younger and right out of grad school, I thought of the idea of being in something that's so culturally oriented. It was a very very problematic. Just to say, that's what they do and that's what we do to lump it all together is very dangerous. I didn't know if I wanted to just be seen as "Oh yeah, that Japanese American guy." The context is always really, really, important. Certain exhibitions that intelligently deal with this issue of identity. If it's done well, I think it's and with awareness of these issues, I think it could be great.

I made a series about the Japanese action hero Ultraman also based on Richter's 48 portraits. They were a bunch of portraits of Ultraman. Something about the design reminded me of the sunglass lenses as well. I like this idea of this cracking and fracturing and this idea of putting it all back together kind of like it’s this Sisyphean, very labor-intensive inefficient task to create something that's ultimately broken and I see some kind of beauty in that. And then I ran across this mannequin, so I had this crazy idea of what if I cover this whole mannequin with it?

Even before I started art school, I've been immersed in this artist culture and DIY culture.

My magazine, I think, was an attempt, in a very small, limited way to create more dialogue between those two communities. Seeing where those limits are in terms of what people, recognize as cultural products but also where those limits are, in terms of what's allowed or what's accepted and seeing where those gray areas are and trying not to really go past the gray areas, and being playful within them.

* * * * *

Transpacific Borderlands: The Art of Japanese Diaspora in Lima, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo is on view at the Japanese American National Museum from September 17, 2017 - February 25, 2018. The exhibition examines the experiences of artists of Japanese ancestry born, raised, or living in either Latin America or predominantly Latin American neighborhoods of Southern California. Ichiro Irie is one of the artists featured in this exhibition.

For more information about the exhibition, visit janm.org/transpacific-borderlands.

Japanese American National Museum
100 N. Central Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
janm.org

*The exhibition is part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a Getty-led initiative exploring Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles, and is made possible through grants from the Getty Foundation. The presenting sponsor of PST: LA/LA is Bank of America.