On view: July 8–August 6, 2026

Location: Ronin Gallery, 32 W. 40th Street, New York, NY 10018

Presented by: Ronin Gallery and Globus Washitsu

Summer Gallery Hours: Mon. – Thurs. 11am – 6pm, Fri. 11am – 4pm

(New York, NY) — Ronin Gallery and Globus Washitsu are pleased to announce contemporary Japanese textile artist Toru Ishii as the 2026 Ronin | Globus Artist-in-Residence. Presented as part of the Ronin | Globus Artist-in-Residence Program, Ishii’s solo exhibition, Tokyo Landscape, will be on view at Ronin Gallery from July 8 through August 6, 2026.

Born in Shizuoka in 1981 and based in Tokyo, Ishii is a contemporary textile artist working in yuzen, a traditional Japanese resist-dyeing technique. His practice focuses especially on itome yuzen, or “line yuzen,” in which rice-paste resist is used to define the composition and preserve fine white contours between areas of saturated color. Ishii brings this traditional textile language into the contemporary city, using its precision, color, and labor-intensive process to depict Tokyo’s streets and electric atmosphere.

Historically associated with kimono and obi, Yuzen developed during the Edo period, the same era that gave rise to ukiyo-e and Ishii’s work speaks directly to Ronin Gallery’s core collection of Japanese prints. Fascinated since youth by ukiyo-e, especially Hokusai's Manga and Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s caricatures, Ishii draws from the bold line, flat form, layered composition, and observational spirit of Edo-period printmaking. He has described ukiyo-e as “a hybrid of artistic expression and a record of reality,” a model that continues to shape his own practice, transforming contemporary urban life into textile through an Edo-period dyeing technique.

Created between 2022 and 2025, Ishii’s Tokyo Landscape series turns the historic language of itome yuzen toward contemporary Tokyo. Through intricate resist lines and vivid dye, Ishii captures the city’s crossings, stations, signage, architecture, vegetation, artificial light, and fleeting atmosphere. Like ukiyo-e artists who recorded the “floating world” of Edo, Ishii uses traditional technique to mirror the visual density and social energy of his own time.

Ishii received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Textile Arts from Tokyo University of the Arts and studied textile design at Chelsea College of Arts and Design in London. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at Japan Society Gallery, New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Young V&A, London; and the Sapporo International Art Festival. His textiles are held in public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Morikami Museum, Miami; the National Crafts Museum, Kanazawa; the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo; and Tokyo University of the Arts Museum.