うつわたち、に寄せて
初めて器を描いたのは１９９６年だった。潜水艦から日常で目にしたものに題材が移り、より生活に密着したものを描くようになった頃で、バンコクで暮らし始めた時期でもあった。それ以降、様々なものを題材にして絵を描いてきたが、期間の長短はあるにせよ、ある時期に集中して描いてその後は描かなくなるという題材が多い中で、器と枕は今も描き続けている。
私の絵は、誰が見ても何が描いてあるのかがすぐにわかると思うが、描かれているものの形や状況を描こうと思っているわけではない。形あるもの、目に見えるものをきっかけにして、目には見えない「何か」を描きたいと思っている。「何か」が何なのかを言葉にすることは容易ではないが「自分は今、確かにここにいる」という人間の根本的な感覚で、それを感じることで心が豊かになるようなものだと思っている。
２０００年頃に描いた森の絵をきっかけに、深い森の中を移動するようなイメージで絵を描くようになり、大学卒業後から描かなくなっていた人を２００２年頃に再び描いてからは、心に強く留まり、描けると感じたものであれば何でも描くようになった。何を描いても、見えない「何か」に向かって同じように描いているつもりでいたが、様々な題材の絵を同じ空間に展示した際に、多少の違和感を覚えた。ある状況の中で感じる気配のようなものを描こうとしている森の絵と、題材をシンプルに描いている器や枕の絵は、本当に同じものになっているのだろうか。同じものでなければいけないのだろうか。様々な思いが巡る中で、一度それらを検証してみるべきではないのかと思うようになった。
深い森から林を抜けて、人の気配のする場所に出ると、葉の隙間に見え隠れしていた空は大きく開けて、やがて海へとたどり着いた。２０２０年に海の絵を描いてから、この先海の中に入って行くのだろうか、それとも空に昇っていくのだろうかと考えていると、もう一度深い森の中にいたいと感じるようになった。同じ頃、アトリエの壁に描きかけの皿、茶碗、壺などの絵が数点掛かっていて、それらをぼーっと眺めていると人がいるように感じた。ものから人が見えてきてさらに存在へと繋がるのではと思うと、器の絵だけで展覧会をやってみたいと思った。そして、また森の絵を描こうと思った。
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About “Vessels”
The first time I painted vessels was in 1996. It was the time when I started living in Bangkok, and my subject matter shifted from submarines to everyday objects that I saw in my daily life.Since then, I have painted a variety of subjects, but while many subjects are painted for a certain period of time and then stopped, I continue to paint vessels and pillows to today.
My paintings are not intended to depict the form or situation of what is depicted, although I think that anyone can easily recognize what is depicted in my paintings. I want to paint "something" that is invisible to the eye, triggered by something tangible and visible. It is not easy to put into words what "something" is, but I believe it is the fundamental human feeling of "I am certainly here now," and that feeling enriches the heart.
I started painting of forests around 2000, which inspired me to move through deep forests. After painting people again around 2002, which I had stopped doing after graduating from college, I began to paint anything that I felt strongly stuck in my mind and could be painted. I thought that whatever I painted, I was painting in the same way toward "something" that I could not see, but when I exhibited my paintings of various subjects in the same space, I felt some discomfort. Are the forest paintings, which are trying to depict something like the signs one feels in a certain situation, and the paintings of vessels and pillows, which are simply depicting the subject matter, really the same thing? Do they really have to be the same? As various thoughts were going through my mind, I began to wonder if I should not examine them once again.
As I emerged from the deep forest through the woods to a place where there were signs of people, the sky, which had been obscured by the leaves, opened wide and I eventually reached the ocean. After painting the ocean in 2020, I wondered if I would go into the ocean or rise into the sky, and I began to feel that I wanted to be in the deep forest again. Around the same time, there were several paintings of plates, bowls, and vases hanging on the wall of my studio, and as I gazed at them, I felt as if there were people in them. When I thought that people could be seen from the things and that they could be connected to existence, I wanted to hold an exhibition with only the paintings of vessels. And I thought I would paint pictures of the forest again.