Untouched blankets of snow covering the landscape make for wonderful winter scenes. There’s always something magical about waking up in the morning, and seeing your environment transformed into a white, soft and silent winter wonderland. Japanese artist Toshihiko Shibuya actually disrupts the whiteness of winter, by adding some color to the snow in a simpel and very effective way. By placing colored discs in the garden of the Yuki Sekiguchi Museum of Art the snow is now lit up by natural light, that reflects off the bottom of the discs spread throughout the garden. This natural light adds color to the snow directly under the dics, giving this special effect. The installation is called Snow Pallet III, being the third installation using this technique, and can be seen at the Yuki Sekiguchi Museum until January 20th. (photo’s kindly supplied by Toshihiko Shibuya)
Interestingly enough, the work is best seen on an overcast day. With a lot of sunlight reflecting off the snow, and the shadows it creates, the colors aren’t as bright as when it’s overcast. The colored light reflecting off the discs contrast more with the environment on cloudy days. Less light actually makes the colors more visible. Less light being reflected by the surroundings, leads to the colors of the discs being less interrupted, and therefor much brighter to the eye. Toshihiko found an interesting part in Goethes theory of color, in which Goethe explains that color is not established by light alone. The surroundings are just as important to how you percieve the colors. Colors to Goethe are the result of an interaction between light and dark.
