trains, ink and acrylic

This series of photos was taken back in October, and is of my colleague Hamaguchi Masahiro. The pictures are of him working on one of his enormous paintings for an exhibition that was shown at the Tokyo National Art Museum along with 600 other paintings by Japanese artists.
Masahiro has a passion for old trains, specifically narrow track trains that were used for transporting logs and people into Japan’s forests in the 1900’s. Almost all the paintings he exhibits are of these trains. Hamaguchi san is also a very good film photographer. The precedence for his paintings comes from his photos and the correlation (in terms of composition) between these two mediums is quite evident. I like how he treats the subject straight on as if one is looking at a front elevation drawing. The angle of this particular painting reminded me of an orthographic drawing. Furthermore, he likes to distort the perspective of the background and the surrounding environment to add complexity to the painting. As you can see the colour palette is typically Japanese (monochrome with subtle hints of blood red), and is slightly reminiscent of anime in a somber sort of way. However, what is unique about his colour use is that every so often he would lay the canvas on the floor and start splattering black ink onto it, and it works. The splatter of black, coupled with the distorted perspective enhances the dynamics of the overall painting. Another part of his style worth mentioning is the little bits of detail that he paints onto certain elements, for example a screw on the train.
Whenever I'm free at work I would go and chat with him over a cup of coffee and talk about photography and art. Definitely an inspirational person.