Looking back through a mirage of hazy memories, a city can appear like a different destination. Shibuya is a special ward in Tokyo, its nightlife renowned as a relief valve for Japan’s highly pressurized work environment. In his latest series, shot over three trips to Tokyo, Oleg Tolstoy sought to capture Shibuya’s nocturnal spirit, while leaving traces of himself behind.
‘Initially, the photographs seemed incomplete,’ mused Tolstoy, ‘I incorporated illustrative scratch techniques, engraving my handwritten words into the images to open up a dialogue between artist, subject and viewer’. Nights out can be an ephemeral experience. Flashes of dark streets and bright bars blurred by a heady rush of alcohol that often end in a compromised state, a process known locally as Shibuya Meltdown. But Tolstoy wanted to delve deeper into this world.
By applying this personalised and illustrative approach, fleeting observations of the night – half-forgotten thoughts, half-remembered insights – are crystallized in the moment itself to capture a depth beyond the surface. Emanata, or motion lines, have been scratched in so that the static becomes dynamic, imbuing the images with new life.
The series reflects the human need to impose a narrative onto a situation. By literally doing so, the images become transportive, immersing the viewer in these late night encounters between subject and artist.
Looking back through a mirage of hazy memories, a city can appear like a different destination. Shibuya is a special ward in Tokyo, its nightlife renowned as a relief valve for Japan’s highly pressurized work environment. In his latest series, shot over three trips to Tokyo, Oleg Tolstoy sought to capture Shibuya’s nocturnal spirit, while leaving traces of himself behind.
‘Initially, the photographs seemed incomplete,’ mused Tolstoy, ‘I incorporated illustrative scratch techniques, engraving my handwritten words into the images to open up a dialogue between artist, subject and viewer’. Nights out can be an ephemeral experience. Flashes of dark streets and bright bars blurred by a heady rush of alcohol that often end in a compromised state, a process known locally as Shibuya Meltdown. But Tolstoy wanted to delve deeper into this world.
By applying this personalised and illustrative approach, fleeting observations of the night – half-forgotten thoughts, half-remembered insights – are crystallized in the moment itself to capture a depth beyond the surface. Emanata, or motion lines, have been scratched in so that the static becomes dynamic, imbuing the images with new life.
The series reflects the human need to impose a narrative onto a situation. By literally doing so, the images become transportive, immersing the viewer in these late night encounters between subject and artist.
