Hiroshi Ikushima is an Asian Modern & Contemporary painter. Their work was featured in an exhibition at the Bunkamura Museum. Hiroshi Ikushima’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from $15,857 USD to $75,475 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 2013 the record price for this artist at auction is $75,475 USD for Girl with Guitar, sold at iART in 2017. Born in Osaka, Ikushima Hiroshi 生 島 浩 is a Japanese award winning painter.
Sometimes interviewing can be very precise and specific, but other times you just throw out questions and hope for a good response. In February 2012, I interviewed three Realist artists for an article I was writing about the Hoki Museum. As they were all good painters of nudes, I sent them three identical sets of questions. This is the response from Hiroshi Ikushima.
View Ikushima Hiroshi Paintings
CBL: Tell our readers why you have become a Realist painter?
HI: I had nothing better to do at the time.
CBL: How is the situation of realist painting in Japanese art? Is it still marginalized? Is it becoming more popular?
HI: It seems to me that realist painting in japan is a bit of a fad and I do think it is gaining popularity right now but I really don’t know what will happen in the future.
CBL: Last week I went to three exhibitions at major public museums of Japanese contemporary artists. Of course, none of them were realists. They were Ay-O, Atsuko Tanaka, and Hiroji Noda. What do you think about the dominance of non-realist art in public museums? Do you sometimes get angry about the apparent bias?
HI: Is there any reason that a baseball player would get angry with a football player just because they play different sports? I enjoy both sports depending on my mood.
CBL: Who are the artists who have influenced and inspired you?
HI: Basically I’ve been very influenced by 17th century european art. I would consider this my base technically however growing up I couldn’t help but to be influenced by animation, photography, movies, manga, and everything else that was happening at the time.
CBL: You are best known for your paintings of the female form and nudes. What is the attraction of the female form to you, apart from the attractions it has for any healthy heterosexual male?
HI: Actually, I have no particular preference. It just so happens that recently my models have all been female. However, I have painted male models quite frequently in the past.