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Kei Ito

Photography, Sculpture / Installation, Visual / Media

About the Artist

Kei Ito is a visual artist working primarily with camera-less photography and installation art who is currently teaching at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in NYC. Ito received his BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology followed by his MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. Ito’s work addresses issues of deep intergenerational loss and connections as he explores the materiality and experimental processes of photography. Ito’s work, fundamentally rooted in the trauma and legacy passed down from his late grandfather - a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, meditates on the complexity of his identity and heritage through examining the past, current trajectories, and visualizing the invisible such as radiation, memory and life/death. By excavating and uncovering hidden histories connected to his own, Ito utilizes his generational past to use as a case study for contemporary and future events. Many of Ito’s artworks transform both art and non-art spaces into temporal monuments that became platforms for the audience to explore social issues and the memorials dedicated to the losses suffered from the consequences of those issues. Within these intertwined pasts, Ito shines a light on power and its relationship to larger global issues that often led to and result in both war and peace alike. Ito has participated in a number of Artist in Residence programs nationwide including the Santa Fe Art Institute (2023), the Studio at MASS MoCA(2021), the Denis Roussel Fellowship at the Center for Fine Art Photography (2021), and the Center for Photography at Woodstock (2019).  His internationally recognized solo and group exhibitions can be read in reviews and articles published by the Washington Post, Hyperallergic, BmoreArt, ArtMaze Magazine, and BBC Culture & Art. His works are included in major institutional collections such as the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Norton Museum of Art, the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, and the Eskenazi Museum of Art.

Kei Ito website Website

Featured Work

Photos

R_st in Peace: Little Boy is from a series of paintings made with iron infused pigment painted in a form of extremely simplified shape of historical weapons; the paint then is partially rusted and continued the process of rusting and oxidation until the black iron paint is fully turned into solid rusted squares. The shape of the painting is a simplified version of Little Boy, the first ever weaponized atomic bomb that was later dropped on Hiroshima, taking the measurement from longest and shortest length of each side of the bomb. Metal - to Ito - is a symbol of manmade items, culture, and society and an element that hints at an earlier time, a more archaic time in humanity’s history. As the paint continues to oxidate and change during the exhibition, it summons visions of ruined and abandoned architecture and technology - either abandoned due to technological advancements or treaties like the sites found scattered throughout the American Midwest or perhaps due to a more apocalyptic event and the remaining radiation causing the lands to be abandoned and falling apart.
"In This Age of Ours" is a mix-media painting series that uses historical photographs/documents combined with painted words on the canvas. The first of the project, "In This Age of Ours: Sacrifice" consists of an inverted photograph of a goat, exposed to an A-bomb blast radiation on Bikini Atoll Island, getting a blood transfusion by three masked doctors as it lies strapped to a surgical table at Bethesda Naval Medical Research Institute, MD. This found photograph was originally by George Skad-ding in 1946; from LIFE Photo Collection. Overtop this image are two spray painted questions: whose sacrifice and whose peace? A red peace symbol is painted in the center of the composition, partially obscuring the photograph - a historical document in a forgotten archive.
"In This Age of Ours" is a mix-media painting series that uses historical photographs/documents combined with painted words on the canvas. The first of the project, "In This Age of Ours: Sacrifice" consists of an inverted photograph of a goat, exposed to an A-bomb blast radiation on Bikini Atoll Island, getting a blood transfusion by three masked doctors as it lies strapped to a surgical table at Bethesda Naval Medical Research Institute, MD. This found photograph was originally by George Skad-ding in 1946; from LIFE Photo Collection. Overtop this image are two spray painted questions: whose sacrifice and whose peace? A red peace symbol is painted in the center of the composition, partially obscuring the photograph - a historical document in a forgotten archive.
"Talking Heads" features two painted radios and radio transmitters. The two separate audio tracks are being transmitted through the radio transmitters which were received and played through each radio. The audio was composed with a number of different siren sounds across various nations and times, including the nuclear strike test siren sounded in Hawaii in 2017, the emergency siren issued in Japan during the North Korean nuclear weapon testing, and the first siren that rang out in Ukraine signaling the beginning of the War with Russia. The sirens are modified into a type of drone music overlaid with my own voice, questioning “Who is going to be the next Sacrifice for Peace” and “Who is going to be the next Sacrifice for War”. Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Td8mK6JL8c&t=65s
The repeating words are created by placing ash on a wooden pedestal. The ash placed on the surface is not fixed; this means that the work is constantly affected by the presence and movements of the audience members throughout the exhibition. The perfectly legible words at the opening reception may not be legible by the end of the show. This ephemeral piece highlights how our ideas and culture around war and peace are not just stagnant or unaffected by all of us. The size of this artwork is depending on the available wooden pedestal or floor space.