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When first viewing the artwork of Shintaro Ohata up close it appears the scenes are made from simple oil paints, but take a step back and you're in for a surprise. Each piece is actually a hybrid of painted canvas and sculpture that blend almost flawlessly in color and texture to create a single image. The cinematic figures are sculpted from polystyrene while the backgrounds are made from traditional painting techniques. Via his artist statement:
Shintaro Ohata is an artist who depicts little things in everyday life like scenes of a movie and captures all sorts of light in his work with a unique touch: convenience stores at night, city roads on rainy day and fast-food shops at dawn etc. His paintings show us ordinary sceneries as dramas. He is also known for his characteristic style; placing sculptures in front of paintings, and shows them as one work, a combination of 2-D and 3-D world. He says that it all started from when he wondered "I could bring the atmosphere or dynamism of my paintings with a more different way if I place sculptures in front of paintings". Many viewers tend to assume that there is a light source set into his work itself because of the strong expression of lights in his sculpture.
Ohata will have work later this year at the Akita Museum of Modern Art, and you can see much more of his work online here. (via toxel)
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Namibia by Jim Naughten- Set against the searing intensity of the Namibian landscape, acclaimed photographer Jim Naughten's dramatic portraits capture the magnificent costume of the Herero tribe. As this fascinating book reveals, the men's paramilitary uniforms and the vibrant Victorian-style gowns worn by the women are a stark reminder of Namibia's tumultuous past. In the late nineteenth century, the influence of missionaries and traders in what became German South-West Africa led to the Herero women adopting the European dress of the day. Over time, this evolved to reflect their cultural identity, with the addition of horn-shaped headdresses representing the importance of cattle in Herero society. Rounded to resemble healthy cows, the dresses contain up to 10 metres of cloth, despite summer temperatures reaching 50ºC. The men's distinctive ceremonial uniforms also have origins in colonial times. Following the brutal German-Herero war of 1904-08 and the end of colonial rule in 1915, the Herero adapted the uniforms of the German colonial forces for their own Otruppe ('troops') movement. In so doing, they sought to appropriate the strength and diminish the power of those who had cost them so dearly. In his insightful introduction to Conflict and Costume, Dr Lutz Marten explores the cultural and historical context of the Herero's dress. Jim Naughten's stunning portraits of the Herero people, set against a landscape that he describes as being 'one of unforgiving intensity but also of silent witness', then allow the past to speak. Exhibition An exhibition of Jim Naughten's portraits of the Herero tribe will be held at the Margaret Street Gallery, London W1 from 5th March to 13th April 2013. - Words: Dr Lutz Marten Photos: Courtesy of Jim Naughten
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