Takashi Ishida

The walls of video rental shops in Japan are lined with hundreds upon hundreds of animation DVDs, but experimental and art animation on DVD are rare. To remedy this situation, Image Forum put together this showcase of the work of contemporary avant-garde animators trained in Kyoto and Tokyo.

Created while staying in Canada and England through a grant from the Gotoh Memorial Foundation. “Reflection” was produced from uncontrollable natural light rather than artificial studio light, and in this way functions as a new venture into documentary.

Emaki is a Japanese traditional narrative form in picture and text created from 11th to 16th century. The film is collaboration work between filmmaker Makino Takashi and painter and filmmaker Ishida Takashi. Ishida has been interested in live-picture, the process of paint, and Makino’s interest is to make a new image with extremely high speed random images. With Makino’s skills in telecine, Ishida’s painted lines were rolled and scrolled, and became “the living line”. The film is maybe a chance, or maybe it is a fight. Perhaps, this film will show you both elements. (www.lightcone.org)

Early experimental animation by Takashi Ishida

Experimental work by Takashi Ishida

With materials originally designed for use in an installation, this piece is sustained by the dual processes of editing and dismantling. The film combines frame-by-frame shooting, flickers effects reshooting, trace of sunlight, and trick-effects using wires to create parallel structures of juxtaposition. Even as it imitates the repetitions and transitions of natural phenomenon, the film escapes the world of natural.

Gestalt was shot over the course of a year in a Tokyo dormitory. Each day, Ishida would paint on the wall and photograph it using the available light from the window. The 7-minute long film, which is accompanied by haunting organ music composed by J.S. Bach, consists of those several seconds of film Ishida shot daily.

Experimental work by Takashi Ishida

Experimental 16mm short by Takashi Ishida.

Short film by Takashi Ishida.