Observe. This word has special significance in the paintings of Masaya Chiba. In order to determine exactly what the object is and how its depiction will influence the viewer - in order to observe these things, he always places the objects that he is depicting in front of him as he paints. 

The painting A turtle's life depicts a scene in which his pet turtle's tank has been decorated with small photographs of a female musician, and a wooden doll of the same musician has been placed in front of the turtle. The work conveys the artist's own gaze on the animal he keeps, a kind of positive feeling in the notion of naive adoration for the musician, and the absurd idea that the turtle is being forced to look at a picture of a person. Meanwhile, in Viewing Lions, Chiba presents in a single canvas wooden sculpture-like objects and also photographs of lions, thereby creating a strange visual effect in which multiple spatial depictions exist in a single painting. 

Chiba devotes hours to testing these compositions and their visual and psychological effects on himself before incorporating them in his paintings. It is this approach that underscores the uniqueness of his art. 

Masaya Chiba was born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture. Major solo exhibitions include “Mitsukyo” at ShugoArts (2008). Major group exhibitions include “Twist and Shout” at Bangkok Art and Culture Center (2009), "Fukutake House" at Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial (2009), “Winter garden: The Exploration of the Micropop Imagination in Contemporary Japanese Art” at Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (2008), "Neoteny Japan: Contemporary Artists after 1990s - From Takahashi Collection" at Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima Prefecture, and elsewhere (2008-2010), VOCA (Visions of Contemporary Art) at Ueno Royal Art Museum (2007), "ritual" at Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya (2007) and "Four Person Show" at ShugoArts (2006).