We know Toshihiko Shibuya from his Snow Pallet in which he colors the snow by reflecting light. He’s now used the concept of reflection for the White Collection. What does that have to do autumn? In the fall, plants turn red, orange, yellow or brown. But he found a dandelion ‘fluffing’ out of season. Usually dandelions fluff in the spring. But not this one. The white dandelion triggered Toshihiko to look for objects in nature that are white. What can you think of that is white in nature? In many areas of the world, white is quite uncommon in nature. Toshihiko looked in fields, mountains and coastal areas throughout the year finding dandelions, white chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, fossils, sea stars, a squirrels’ skull, cocoons and much more.
Putting the objects in a box, with a colored lid that reflects light, the naturally white objects become naturally tinted. Toshihiko Shibuya entices us to look at nature differently, by presenting it in colors we don’t expect to see nature. Like the dandelion we mentioned earlier. White is normal, when it’s colored yellow it still looks reasonably normal, but when the dandelion fluff is blue, a natural blue, it doesn’t resemble the object we played with as children in the spring anymore. Just by reflecting light onto an object we all know, we experience objects completely differently, literally shedding it in a new light.
The images show the White Collection as exhibited at the Gallery Monma Annex this august.
