Kaijuu (signed book)/Ishida Takashi

A picture book as a work of art that touches on the creative origins of artist Ishida Takashi

Hisashi Ishida is an artist who has received high praise both in Japan and overseas for his video works, which are continuous shots of the paintings he paints. His first picture book is a "wordless picture book" made up of cut-out images of various "monsters" that Ishida drew as a child and that were kept by his grandmother.

However, from the cover to the main text, the pages are covered in silver, and the drawings and silhouettes are cleverly arranged on the pages. The binding design even skillfully controls the transparency and show-through of the paper, allowing the "wild creatures" to speak more eloquently than words.

At the end of the book is a poem by poet Tetsuo Yaguchi entitled "Maya (Ishida Takashi's Ghosts, Monsters and Angels)." This picture book combines the eloquence of images with the rich imagery of poetry.

Title: Wild Things

Author: Ishida Takashi

Edited by: Kenji Igarashi

Design: Takahiro Furuya

Photo: Haruyuki Shirai

Format: A4 size/hardcover

Number of pages: 40 pages

Price: 2,700 yen + tax

ISBN 978-4-910315-58-4 C0771

Takashi Ishida

Art/film artist. Born in Tokyo in 1972. Began painting professionally in his teens, and began making films around 1992, winning the Special Prize at the Image Forum Festival 1999 for Room/Form (1999). Works such as The Art of Fugue (2001), commissioned by the Aichi Arts Center, have garnered attention, and he has since participated in film festivals and art exhibitions both in Japan and abroad. In 2007, he received the Goto Memorial Culture Award for New Artists. In 2025, he received the 75th Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize. He is a professor at Tama Art University.