Painter and advertisement designer, Midori Kambara, who is based in Sapporo, created the “White Garden – White Space” which contains a painting portraying nature scenery using pure white snow as a material engraved on the three walls that surround a bed. On the front wall, flowers are blooming and wild birds and a Japanese hare are nestling in the grass growing on the side. People visiting the hotel will have a fantastic experience when they enter in to the world pictured which is free in this unusual space.

Midori Kambara: “White Garden – Room of White”

The nature scenery in the original painting is drawn in an extremely simple manner but one can find a firmly wild consciousness in its refined silence. Protected by the ice and snow, in a place where a snow storm makes a roaring sound, if you listen carefully you can hear a wild whisper hidden in the white silence.

Currently, Midori Kambara’s piece “Garden #12,” a painting with gold leaf, is on display at the Creative Hokkaido exhibition at the Cross Hotel Sapporo.

Toshihiko Shibuya “Ice Pallet – Room of Light”

Toshihiko Shibuya, an artist who develops three-dimensional installations using a space in consonance with nature in Hokkaido, created “Ice Pallet – Room of Light” with blocks of ice dyed in various colors buried in a snow wall. The ice blocks are neither made of colored water nor lit up by colored light. Rather, fluorescent-colored sheets buried in the wall naturally reflect and make the ice blocks look like they are dyed with colors.

Shibuya’s original technique causes the appearance of his art piece to change depending on the weather and time of day, while also respecting the characteristics and possibilities of nature, and individualizing the beauty of nature. The feel of his art is similar to the happiness felt in receiving an unexpected gift, especially the sweet and warm impression that people find from his art. The color given to nature becomes a gift in return from nature and dyes people’s eyes with gentleness.

Toshihiko Shibuya currently has an on-snow installation “Snow Pallet 5” on display at the Otaru Canal Plaza and Otaru Kihinkan, formerly Aoyama Villa, in Otaru, Hokkaido until the snow melts. He has another piece called “White Collection” using naturally white materials at the Creative Hokkaido exhibition.