Artist Gallery

2022.05.13

Masahiro Yabuta｜Manhatta-n (2021) ～Draw a multi-layered city, its “shape”～

Production Concept

Manhatta-n (2021) – Multi-layered city: drawing its “shapes” –

Manhattan, the land of dreams, has been attracting people from all over the world since the 19th century. The skyline created by skyscrapers, the straight streets intersecting at right angles, the cars and diverse people passing by there…the gap between the recorded images of 100 years ago and the present is surprisingly small. Not only external appearance, but also intangible elements such as freedom, affluence, and fusion of human races, languages and cultures have been passed down through the generations, which shape the image of this city.

To express the image of the city that has been deposited over a long period of time like a stratum, Van Dyke brown was adopted for printing process, one of the classical photographic techniques. The city and its people were recorded by omitting colors and drawing the “shapes”; with brown outlines. Men gathering on stairs, a woman crossing a show window, street performers in a park, and other people living in the present were blended into this layered city and reproduced on photographic paper. Many unpredictable manual processes of Van Dyke printing, such as slippage of the brush when applying chemicals and delicate length of the exposure were completed to create one of a kind print which established timeless “Manhattan”.