[1] His works typically depict hyperrealistic boys and men whose bodies are integrated into everyday appliances, industrial machinery, civic architecture, and animal forms.
Subsequently, the angst that characterized his age group affected his perceptions of Japan's near-future where he viewed it as a bleak, urbanized atmosphere dominated by technocratic occupations that drain the life from its recent university graduate and middle-aged salarymen employees.
With mental illness as a crucial attribute of his work, Ishida's conflicted views of Japan's outlook took a toll on his personal life and has been considered a contributing factor in his death after he was struck by a train in 2005.
[4][5] Several of Shahn's pieces portrayed the historic 1954 Lucky Dragon Incident in which Japanese fishermen aboard a tuna boat were exposed to fallout radiation from a nearby nuclear bomb test conducted by the American military.
"In 1984, the Shizuoka District Legal Affairs Bureau launched a human rights-themed manga competition to which Ishida submitted an entry entitled Yowaimonoijime wa yameyou!
[8] This manga piece underscores Ishida's sharp opposition to humanity's over-dependence on technology and foreshadows one of the most prevalent thematic elements throughout his career.
While there is no clear evidence of any clinical diagnosis, many art historians speculate Ishida's fascination with these artists and his later pictorial representations of mental anguish was because he, too, was afflicted with similar conditions.
Upon graduation from Yaizu Central High School in 1992, Ishida enrolled at Musashino Art University where he earned a degree in Visual Communication Design in 1996.
[10] Ishida's parents strongly disapproved of his decision to become an artist and refused to offer any financial support, desiring instead that he pursue a career in academia or chemistry.
His participation in various solo and group exhibitions across the country garnered numerous awards, and Ishida became a dominant fixture in Japan's contemporary art scene.
Tokyo's upscale Ginza shopping district is renowned for its promotion of arts consumption for the general public through exhibitions organized inside department stores.
[15] Ishida was featured in over a dozen Ginza exhibitions that expanded his audience by rendering his works more readily accessible to the general public and art critics.
[17] As his artistic output increased, Ishida's parents eventually realized the magnitude of their son's skill and commitment to painting, and they came to embrace and appreciate his art.
[18] Ishida's works convey a sense of foreboding and gloominess through their muted color palettes dominated by blacks, grays, and pale shades of blue.
His parents and school officials continually pressured him to obtain high marks on scholastic examinations and to acquire gainful employment outside the visual arts sector.
Following the end of their creative partnership, Hirabayashi stated they maintained limited contact, but noted that Ishida's last residence was in Sagami Ono, a suburb of Sagamihara, that enabled him easy access to the expansive Seikado art supply store.
Hirabayashi confirmed that Ishida's mental health appeared to rapidly decline due to a contentious relationship with the print shop manager that "made his life miserable", and the wrongful accusation and termination of his watchman position following the accidental death of a co-worker crushed by a truck.