私のアトリエには岡本太郎さんの太陽の塔の模型が置いてあるのですが、アトリエにいらっしゃる方々の殆どの人が「太陽の塔がお好きなのですか?」とおっしゃいます。
私が思うに、人類は1960〜1970年代である意味においてピークに達し完結していたのではないかと。
そしてそのわかりやすいところでの日本の象徴が岡本太郎さんの太陽の塔であり、当時の様々なカテゴリーでの様々な出来事を眺めていると「爆発」という超エネルギッシュな表現がまさにそれだと強く感じるし、その時代全体がアート的にも思えてきます。
余談ですが、
私がまだ弟子であった頃、師匠の友人でもあった某グラフィックデザイナーの方とお会いする機会が多々ありましたが、私の当時の作品についても含め、その方から伝えられていた言葉があります。
丸本も僕らと同じ1960年代〜1970年代に活動できた年齢で生まれてきたら無茶苦茶面白かったと思うよ。
今はね昔と違って、毒を薬に変えられる医者がいないんだよ。
これからの時代、お前は苦労すると思う。
奇しくも私がフォトグラファーとして初めて雑誌で採用されたのは、寺山修司さんの最後の弟子と言われた方からのお仕事のご依頼であり、この方との出会いは後にメジャーデビューするためのきっかけとなる作品、いいや、それだけではなく、今でも飽きずにずっと眺めていられる作品を生み出していた、とんでもなく充実した期間となりました。
私はきっと恵まれていた。
まだ斬新で凝り固まってはいない新人の頃に、こんなにも多くを学べる人達が周りにいて、無茶苦茶面白そうな時代を駆け抜けてきたその人達の生の声を物作りの現場でリアルタイムに聴くことができたのは、もしかしたら私達世代が最後だったのかもしれません。
時が経ち、今は2023年…
コンピューターやインターネットの普及で、一部の人達以外の多くの人の質の低下は止まるところを知らず、想像(創造)できる人が激減しているように感じるこの時代において、当時の凄まじい爆発から生まれた太陽の塔は、いったい何を思い、どんな気持ちでこの世界を眺めているのだろう。
追記 :
いつも思うことがあります。
フィンランドは550万人で国を回しています。
日本と比較すると二桁も少ない人口で。
勝手な想像ですが…
国々において文化の違いはあれど、きちんとやれば日本もそれくらいの人口で回せる気がしています。
ここしばらく人口の減少が騒がれていますが、量より質、人の質を上げれば、もっと上手くやれそうです。
個人的な好奇心ですが、どうやって国を回しているのか、フィンランドに生の声を聴きに行ってみたい。
記事 : Photographer MAL / 丸本祐佐
"Taro Okamoto's Tower of the Sun"
I have a model of Taro Okamoto's Tower of the Sun in my studio, and most of the people who come to my studio ask me, "Do you like the Tower of the Sun?" Most of the people who visit my studio say, "Do you like the Tower of the Sun?
I think that the human race reached its peak and perfection in a sense in the 1960s and 1970s.
When I look at the various events of that time in various categories, I strongly feel that the super energetic expression "explosion" is exactly what it means, and the whole period seems artistic.
As an aside,
When I was still an apprentice, I had many opportunities to meet a certain graphic designer who was also a friend of my teacher.
If Marumoto had been born at an age when he could have been active in the 1960s and 1970s like us, I think it would have been absurdly interesting.
Unlike in the past, there are no doctors who can turn poison into medicine.
I think you will have a hard time in the future.
Coincidentally, the first time I was hired by a magazine as a photographer was when I was offered a job by a person who was said to be the last disciple of Shuji Terayama, and my encounter with this person was not only the work that would later lead to my major debut, no, but also the work that I can still look at forever without getting tired of it It was a ridiculously fulfilling period of time that produced works that I can still look at today without getting tired of them.
I was surely blessed.
When I was still a newcomer, not yet novel and stiff, I was surrounded by people from whom I could learn so much, and perhaps our generation was the last to be able to listen to the real voices of these people who had gone through an absurdly interesting time in the field of production in real time.
Time has passed, and now it is 2023...
In this age when computers and the Internet have made the quality of many people, except for a few people, decline, and the number of people who can imagine (create) seems to be drastically decreasing, I wonder what the Tower of the Sun, which was born from the tremendous explosion at that time, is thinking and feeling as it looks at this world. I wonder what the Tower of the Sun, born from the tremendous explosion at that time, is thinking and feeling as it looks at the world.
Postscript : I have always wondered about this.
There is something I always think about.
Finland is a country of 5.5 million people.
With a population that is two orders of magnitude less than Japan.
It's just my imagination, but...
Despite the cultural differences between countries, I feel that Japan could be run and managed with a similar population if it were done properly.
Although there has been a lot of talk about population decline for a while now, I think we can do better if we improve the quality of people rather than the quantity of people.
This is a personal curiosity, but I would like to go to Finland to hear firsthand how they are running their country.
Article : Photographer MAL / Yusuke
Marumoto
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