Zero Field is an artistic concept developed by Shogo Shimiya. By sustaining the moment when an image begins to coalesce into form, it explores a realm that exists prior to the fixation of being into a stable and definitive shape.
The framework of Zero Field is composed of five interconnected series: BLAZING, MYSTERIOUS, CRONUS, SHIJIMA, and BRAGI. Each is grounded in its own philosophy and expressed through a corresponding Field Light Painting.
BLAZING is based on Burnism and is realized through Burning Field Light Painting. At its core lies the Japanese tradition of Otakiage, a ritual in which fire is understood not as a force of destruction, but as a medium that returns things to their rightful place. By releasing matter into light, BLAZING explores transformation, impermanence, and the cyclical nature of existence.
MYSTERIOUS is based on Bokeism and is realized through Bokeh Field Light Painting. It regards blur not as a deficiency, but as a field of possibility. By sustaining the fluid state immediately before an image takes form, it connects with the Japanese aesthetic concept of Yūgen, revealing the subtle depths that lie beyond clear perception.
CRONUS is based on Timeism and is realized through Time Field Light Painting. It approaches time not as a linear progression, but as a field in which multiple temporal states coexist. Through long exposures and multiple exposures, past, present, and future are made visible as simultaneous layers of experience.
SHIJIMA is based on Shijimaism and is realized through Ma Field Light Painting. Silence and ma (interval) are understood not as emptiness, but as spaces in which existence resonates most profoundly. Through this approach, SHIJIMA explores the hidden stillness and latent presence that dwell beneath the surface of the world.
BRAGI is based on Writingism and is realized through Writing Field Painting. Here, words are treated not merely as vehicles of meaning, but as independent forms of existence. Writing and painting are inseparable; poems, lyrics, and traces of language transform into visual presences within pictorial space. Writing Field Painting explores the state that precedes the fixation of meaning, revealing a generative field where language and image continuously intersect.
Although these five philosophies engage with different domains—fire, image, time, silence, and language—they share a common pursuit: the exploration of states that exist before being converges into a fixed form.
Zero Field is the fundamental principle that unifies them.
It is not a style concerned with presenting completed forms. Rather, it is an art that remains within the very moment of becoming—the threshold where form is about to emerge, yet has not fully arrived.
