Born in Tokyo, Japan, Eri Ishii moved to Canada to study psychology and pursue painting. Since then she has made Vancouver her home while studying and exhibiting widely across British Columbia. Using layers of oil paint, Ishii creates depth and atmospheric space in her painting. She then complicates her images by using geometric shapes or tangled lines combined with human figures. Ishii is driven by her interests in emotional experiences and the creative possibilities of painting. She strives for work that captivates viewers and stimulates their imagination. Art reviewer Bettina Matzhkun, described her work as “deftly captures a sense of uncertainty, even anxiety, though there’s nothing overtly threatening. She conjures fragility without a speck of sentimentality”.