eitoeiko is delighted to present the exhibition 'Slap, Stick and Mark' by Ichiro Irie. This is the first solo exhibition in his birthplace.

Immediately having completed his MFA at Claremont Graduate University in 2001, Ichiro Irie went to Mexico City on a Fulbright Fellowship as a figurative painter. What was to be a 1 year residency turned into a 5 year adventure which in turn completely transformed almost every aspect of Irie's life including his artistic practice. Currently, Irie's multidisciplinary oeuvre spans a wide range of ideas and processes that intentionally rejects categorization and stylistic identification.

After having returned to Los Angeles in August of 2006, Irie began to produce a new body of work which he calls his Accumulations series that make use of large quantities of quotidian objects that simultaneously serve as surface, pigment, armature, and adhesive for his sculptural and 2D works. The works playfully explore a variety of subject matter that influences the artist including popular culture, art history, sexuality, and cultural identity. Along with this series, he also produced videos and photographic works which humorously document his interventions and observations of social behaviors and cultural institutions.

Beginning in November of 2008 and 2009, Irie presented a series of solo exhibitions in the Republic of Mexico which traveled from Chihuahua, Mexico City, Guadalajara and finally to Tijuana, Mexico that showcased these efforts, and for the first time juxtaposed his drawing, sculpture, video, photography and painting in the same context.

For the current exhibition, Irie presents a new collection of works which can be seen as a continuation of those previous exhibitions in Mexico. However, this time he seems to focus and comment on relationships he has with people and institutions in his immediate surroundings as an artist, as a teacher, and just as a person who lives on Earth right now. Irie finds these relationships both intimate and strange in equal parts. The title, Slap, Stick and Mark serves as a simple description of his processes.

About the Artist

Born in Tokyo and raised in Los Angeles, Ichiro Irie received his B.A. from University of California, Santa Barbara and his M.F.A. from Claremont Graduate University. In 2001, Irie went to Mexico City on a Fulbright fellowship, and has maintained an active relationship with the visual art community in Mexico. Irie has exhibited his work internationally in galleries and museums such as Bank Gallery in Los Angeles, CSW Museum in Warsaw, and Museo Carrillo Gil in Mexico City. In the past two years he has had solo shows at Sam Francis Gallery in Santa Monica, CA, Casa del Tunel: Art Center in Tijauna, MX, CAM Contemporaneo in Guadalajara, MX, and Yautepec Gallery in Mexico City. In 2011, he has exhibited at Hendershot gallery in New York City, Museo del Chopo in Mexico City, Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, CA, Jens Fehring gallery in Frankfurt, Germany, and the first Sur Biennial in Los Angeles. As a curator he has organized over 30 exhibitions at venues such as 18th Street Arts Center and Raid Projects in Los Angeles, Art & Idea and MUCA Roma in Mexico City, and Kyubidou Gallery in Tokyo. Irie currently lives and works in Los Angeles, teaches at Santa Monica College and Oxnard College, and is an artist in residence at the 18th Street Arts Center.