Naoko Shibuya was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. She studied fine art at the Tama Art University, Tokyo before continuing her studies at Edinburgh College of Art. She now divides her time between Japan and Scotland.
A sense of the interior, both spatial and psychological, is present in the paintings of Naoko Shibuya. There is no horizon, no sunlight, no shadow, no perspective, no day nor night. Instead of these cues of conventional representation we are drawn into a dream world; reality is present but imaginatively reconstructed. Like a good modernist, she eschews symbolism or agitation; she creates her world and allows the viewer to be drawn in and perhaps find the connections the artist herself feels so strongly.
Plants and flowers undergo dramatic changes in such a short time when they bloom and when they wither. Each moment in their life cycle represents a particular point in time, which I seek to express in my paintings. I am especially fond of the Camellia and Bamboo (Tsubaki) series, as they remind me of my childhood and the environment of my ancestral home. – Naoko Shibuya
