“Okawa Village, Tosa County, Kochi Prefecture, 2007” by Toshio Shibata
“Constructed Landscapes”, a series of photographs illustrating places where large-scale Japanese building projects meet the land, are anything but pedestrian. In this solo show at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA (through Fall 2013), Toshio Shibata is exhibiting his more recent large-format color work for the first time in the US, alongside some of his older B&W images.
“Kuroiso City, Tochigi Prefecture, 1989” by Toshio Shibata
When Shibata started photographing landscapes in the 1980’s, his work was considered practically blasphemous. He broke from the Japanese sense of “face” by photographing the mundane, rather than the traditionally celebrated, aspects of landscape. But Shibata was able to tap his Japanese aesthetic to create large, detailed images of grand, awe-inspiring projects to make them both intriguing and beautiful. Projects such as water catchments, erosion control areas, and bridges are rendered in a way that invite us to contemplate the interface of natural and man-made structures.
“Okutama Town, Nishitama County, Tokyo, 2006” by Toshio Shibata
Although people rarely appear in his images (when they do, they emphasize the massive scale), each one is an examination of how we relate to our environment. And while there are cultural differences, this concept has universal appeal. I found his work captivating on two levels: while the detail and complexity of an image drew me in to examine closely, the enormity and geometry made me stand back to take it in as a whole. It is easy to understand how Shibata’s exacting, meditative style and stunning compositions have made him nearly as revered in Japan as Ansel Adams is here.
“Juocho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture, 2008” by Toshio Shibata
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