Working Man Working Man

In his work Takanobu KOBAYASHI depicts ‘scenes that catch his attention’ that he has come across in the outside world. Simple things from his daily life, such as sunlight coming down through the trees, a pool of sunlight in a park, a sleeping person, a pillow, or tableware, these motifs have given rise to numerous paintings. Basing himself in Thailand and Japan, he finds his motifs in everyday things, his mellow textures and minimal compositions winning him high praise. The work shown here, in which light seems to emerge from within the picture, was painted during his first long stay in Bangkok. The artist had produced numerous works depicting aspects of light prior to this, but speaking of this work he says, ‘in Thailand the light is too bright during the day, I am more attracted by the soft, warm light at night.’ In it he uses the motif of a man working on a construction site at night under orange lighting. Entitled ‘Working Man’, it has no background and has been reduced to a simple abstract, with the composition balanced left and right, and the figure set in the centre, presenting the universal theme of ‘Man Working’ or ‘Building a Home’. The light source in the upper part of the picture illuminates the figure and building, giving rise to a dreamlike, fantasy image in the picture. Another attraction of this work can be said to lie in the fact that although it depicts a noisy scene, it possesses a type of quietude filled with lingering echoes.