New Arrival: “For Grey” by Toshio Shibata

“For Grey” by Toshio Shibata

AZITO is pleased to introduce new artworks by Toshio Shibata.

We have introduced the artwork series “a View” which was in black and white. Compared to that, this series “For Grey” is in color. Shibata answered about the difference between black/white and color photograph in an interview by eyecurious as below.

“For me colour photography is about atmosphere, whereas with my black and white work I was focused on shape and tonality. In my black and white work by combining those elements of shape and tonality, photography was able to create a different world. I tried to create scenes that people had never seen before. With colour photography the process is more casual, looser. I try to capture an atmosphere.” (from eyecurious)

Color may add more reality in the photograph than black/white since the objects will be recognized as what it is instead of only its shape. Although, Shibata’s color photo is still losing the reality. It is timeless and hard to find any sense of specific place or emotion. He also mentioned about photography compared with painting as below.

“The only elements that you can control are contrast and tonality, light essentially. With painting all the ‘unnecessary’ parts in a scene can be eliminated. With photography, you just have to accept what is there. That is where the difficulty of photography lies. Photography is not something that you can make. It cannot be forced. You have to accept the subject. “ (from eyecurious)

“You have to accept the subject.” This must be the ultimate feature of photography. Accepting the subject may end up capturing a photo which gives us no surprise. However, as you can see in these photos, Shibata shows the scenery from a different point of view. This means he has his own special eye accepting the world.