Toshio Shibata: Prefectures
Sunday, November 16, 2008The work of Japanese photographer Toshio Shibata was unknown to me until recently when I had the pleasure of viewing one his large-scale photographs up close and personal, pulled from the MFA’s collection here in Boston. His black and white images of “Prefectures” are beautifully seen.
Yunotani Village, Niigata Prefecture, 1989
© Toshio Shibata
Ootaki Village, Nagano Prefecture, 1996
© Toshio Shibata
Shiratori Town, Gifu Prefecture, 1995
© Toshio Shibata
Honkawane Town, Shizuoka Prefecture, 1997
© Toshio Shibata
Hinoemata Village, Fukushima Prefecture, 1996
© Toshio Shibata
See more of Toshio’s work, including images from his other projects American Images, Polaroid Type 55, Japanese Landscapes, Hinohara Village, Tokyo and Orientalism, right here.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
To me, landscape is one of the hardest genres to express artistic intent. The image either excludes or overpowers the intent (or feeling) of the photographer, leaving him with an image that, most often, can only be judged on technical expertise. Or the image is so banal that any intent (or feeling) seems contrived and forced (unless, of course, banality is the intent and haven’t we seem enough of that already). This photographer doesn’t have these problems. These are beautiful images with feeling. If the concepts of ominious, shadowy photography and foreboding background music of film noir could be draped over the genre of landscape, this work would be the result. His eye for abstraction is impressive without be overpowering. I’ll bet the prints are stunning.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Stunning prints, indeed.
August 23rd, 2009 at 7:39 am
I have just posted an interview that I did with Shibata last year at his studio in Tokyo. You can read it over at eyecurious.