Launch Recite Me assistive technology

Art: Ian Stevenson's sublime nonsense on show in Tokyo

Date
20 May 2014

When you search for “Ian Stevenson” Google suggests that you might be looking for a Canadian psychiatrist who specialised in reincarnation. I wasn’t – I was after the British artist of the same name – but I can’t help wonder what the former might have made of the latter’s work.

Ian has just opened a new show at the Paul Smith Space Gallery in Tokyo, which boasts not only 20 new works but also a range of T-shirts and hankies that feature the fashion designer’s photographs onto which Ian has added his own visual flourishes.

What I love about Ian’s work is that amid the thickets of surreal silliness, occasionally you glimpse something more thought-provoking, the whispy entrails of an idea that questions something much more profound. But then it’s gone, and any attempt to vocalise it founders on the craggy shores of sounding self-important.

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Ian Stevenson: Art

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Ian Stevenson: Disneyland

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Ian Stevenson: Satisfaction Guaranteed

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Ian Stevenson: Hello Prick

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Ian Stevenson: I’m A Pervert

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Ian Stevenson: Gone To Lunch

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Ian Stevenson: Rich People
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Ian Stevenson: Tastes Great

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Ian Stevenson x Paul Smith: Lesiure Time

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Ian Stevenson x Paul Smith: May Contain Nuts

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Ian Stevenson x Paul Smith: MEOW

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Ian Stevenson x Paul Smith: Mt Fuji

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Ian Stevenson x Paul Smith: Summer Time

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob Alderson is a freelance writer, editor and strategist. He was previously editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and WePresent, and editor of Design Week. He publishes the newsletter Undo, which tries to make sense of how AI is changing design work, the design process and the design industry.

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