Kiyomichi Shibuya exhibited his works along with Jim Lambie and Ernest Neto at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery’s “Melting Point”, after the exhibition at “Roppongi Crossing” in 2004. Though he has participated in some exhibitions in following years, he is not a prolific artist. Recently he has completed beautiful works for the entrance hall of Iino Building at Kasumigaseki. Its motif is a spirograph which is the trademark of his works and the works are composed of light and shadow.

A spirograph is rather unfamiliar word but it should be very familiar tool for us that we used to draw floral patterns by using it in our childhood. Rotating small gear inside large gear with teeth to engage each other, the tracks of floral patterns can be drawn. Shibuya draws patterns by layering lines and using such motifs of making us feel nostalgic a bit. Casting layers of light on or lifting lines from it, the material itself appears more interesting. Besides, he is always particular about the materials and traditional motifs as he is originated in Japanese-style painting, and often quotes from the classic literature.

What attracts us most is its narrative. The artworks exhibited at “Melting Point” exhibition was “The Little Mermaid”, and those of Iino Building, entitled “The bonfire - the spirits of twelve months tending”, was apparently the quote from “The Twelve Months”, a children’s story by Samuil Marshak. This time, Shibuya creates the installation based on Aesop’s Fables’ “Mercury and the Woodman” and exhibits throughout 3 exhibition spaces. Though each work of Shibuya has own title taken from the story’s character or the novels and each of them is very attractive, the exhibition itself appears as one works as a metanarrative. At this exhibition, we also adopt such construction so that viewers may be drawn into large swell of the story.

- Toshio Kondo, Art Front Gallery