The City… it’s hypnotic vibrations of light, it’s dreamlike colors of night… Makoto Sasaki continues to research the space, rhythm, luminosity and chromatism of contemporary Megalopolis. We are glad to present his new series of works dedicated to the largest city in the world. “Shanghai Layers” bring the viewer into the fluorescent labyrinth with dream-like network of overlapping reflections and animated beams of light.

As in previous series “Tokyo Layers” Sasaki is using a technique of capturing subject with the camera in movement making a shot from observation elevators of skyscrapers. The photo is done with exposure time of 20-30 seconds and interruption of the light stream (by closing a shutter) for several times during each shot. Using this method Sasaki extends the continuum of the city exposing it’s much more mystical, surreal character.

Being completed in one media of digital photography and without any adjustments on computer Sasaki’s approach creates a double link. From one side, the artist brings photography close to abstract painting, in which the stroke is done by light which burns its trace on the “canvas” of film and then photo paper. From another side, Sasaki manages to capture and present the cityscape as music, where each extended and interrupted light-color as well as dark silent parts of the image create a symphony with synchronous and continuous voices and rhythms. It is thus not simply a photo of Shanghai, but its colorful abstract representation accompanied by melodic beat and radiating motion.