The highly anticipated painting “Manager's Chair in an Abandoned Building” by Japanese artist Tetsuya Ishida, hailed as the voice of the working class’s silent struggles, is set to go under the hammer with an estimated value of HK$8,000,000.  

If you’ve ever felt trapped in the grind of workplace hierarchies, few artists capture that pain as vividly as Tetsuya Ishida. Known for his surreal, unsettling style, Ishida’s works expose the powerlessness of modern life. His art gives form to the anxieties and isolation of the working individual, forcing us to confront an uncomfortable question: have we already become mere cogs in the machinery of capitalism?

This late artist created a body of work that remains timeless. Among these pieces, “Manager's Chair in an Abandoned Building” will be a highlight at Bonhams Hong Kong on 25 May, drawing considerable attention as one of this season’s auction centrepieces.

Born in 1973 in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, Ishida grew up during the country’s “Lost Decade” following the collapse of its economic bubble. This period of stagnation shaped his perspective, focusing on the lives of those crushed under the weight of workplace systems and societal expectations.  

His art frequently features emotionless, suit-clad office workers whose bodies are grotesquely fused with objects—tools, machinery, or commodities. These silent yet powerful images seem to cry out: our bodies no longer belong to us; they’ve been appropriated for labour and profit.  

Ishida’s style is raw, almost oppressive in its simplicity, yet deeply haunting. In works like “Cargo” (1997), a suited man is bound with ropes and stacked like shipping crates beside a subway entrance. In “Supermarket” (1997), another worker’s arms become conveyor belts, endlessly performing mechanical tasks. The latter sold at Christie’s in 2008 for HK$1,580,000.  

These images evoke the monotony of day-to-day drudgery, the endless stream of reports, and the suffocating weight of life’s demands. Ishida’s works are brutally honest and profoundly reflective, capturing not only the disillusionment of 1990s Japan but also the shared struggles of countless individuals in today’s world.  

The upcoming auction of “Manager's Chair in an Abandoned Building” represents the pinnacle of Ishida’s observations on corporate life. The painting features a manager physically transformed into a battered chair, his body twisted and fused with its metallic frame. His vacant expression epitomises the dehumanising effects of workplace hierarchies, where individuals are consumed by the very systems they inhabit.  

Though his career spanned only a decade, Ishida left behind a legacy of 217 paintings, all uncompromising in their portrayal of alienation under capitalism. “Manager's Chair in an Abandoned Building” will be exhibited at Bonhams Hong Kong from 19–25 May before its auction on 25 May. The event also features works by renowned artists like Ju Ming, Sanyu, and Tomokazu Matsuyama, providing a rare chance to explore surrealist art while reflecting on the realities of contemporary life.