Seiichi SHIBATA -Obtuse relief, Evil Night Park
Wood (Katsura, etc,)Acrylic, Guoche
h 650 xw 580 x d 100, 2015
SHIBATAI's artworks resonate an ambiance of menace, that presence which evil creates as evidenced by the cat above in the artwork, titled; Obtuse relief, Evil Night Park (which is savvy in its construction into the corner of the gallery) as it is about to devour the innocent bird for dinner.
But SHIBATAI's art seen in the above image appears to bring to the audience a set of complex ironies about the realities of life, being what is evil to one, may well be a very natural act to do for survival of another, which makes you think are some deeds of supposed evil a natural form evolution.
For example, no one likes to see a bird eaten by cat but the Tomcat needs to survive if no one feeds it, so therefor it is a hunter by night and the park is its killing ground for food, its necessity for life and this may constitute that this particular perceived act of evil, after all, is basically necessary for the beast to survive.
And this is where the fog of what is justice and what is unjust starts to smother the societal memories perceptions of what is evil and what his good, and is there an absolute demarcation line of any real clarity for humans throughout time and space, for which history has revealed that those in power often tend to make what is right and wrong up as they go along through life for their own ends.
What this exhibitions by SHIBATA appears to confront us with is more to do with our own measures of good and evil, what are they, who formed them are they lasting benchmarks or do they shift daily within our lives in our desires for money, pleasure, comfort, food, wine and any other necessity or excess as at times some people like to fly somewhere for holiday, to an unspoilt, pristine landscape, well knowing that the plane pollutes the earth we live in, which may reveal to us, humans are ironic creatures.
And human desires seems to be where the ironies of what might be good and evil exists with its subsequent manifestations of truth and lies. This is a very good thought provoking exhibition by SHIBATA so if your in Motomachi Kobe do go to Gallery Yamaki Fine Art for a look link is here:
http://www.gyfa.co.jp/en/exhibitions/seiichi-shibata2015.htm
