Toshio Shibata sees art in the everyday

Shibata doesn’t really care if you know what it is you’re seeing. Often it’s apparent, of course, though not always. It’s not that he’s trying to disguise these structures. The point is that purpose doesn’t matter; appearance does. He wants the image to be experienced for how it looks, not for what it shows. So many of the structures verge on abstraction. Where normally one would focus on their function, Shibata emphasizes their formal properties. The bridge in “Okawa Village, Tosa County, Kochi Prefecture” could be a sculpture — its rusty red suggesting a version of Richard Serra, perhaps.

Article source: http://www.boston.com/arts/theater-art/2013/05/04/art-review-toshio-shibata-constructed-landscapes-peabody-essex-museum/9bO6KiTS41Ks8yRRCxwgMM/story.html