Taro Shinoda’s Katsura works employ basic oil painting materials, sizing linen canvas with rabbit skin glue and using walnut oil as a painting medium. Nevertheless, they are distinctly unlike the conventional paintings that we are familiar with. Standing in front of one of these works, viewers feel unsure about what distance and what angle to view the painting from. Extending inwards from the edges of each work is a large margin of linen canvas, which curves away from the viewer as it approaches the center, creating a depression with a depth of about 5 centimeters. In the center is a flat area covered by an abstract composition of colors and grid lines, painted with oil paints. The series was inspired by Katsura Palace in Kyoto, Japan.