下にオリジナル和文があります。
Ushio Shinohara - Murder of Oiran in Blood
Galerie oko, Berlin
06.09. - 02.11.2008
“What kind of works will I see in your studio?” asked Mr. Oe Kenzaburo, 1994 Nobel Laureate in Literature. The question came many years earlier in 1961, on the way to a visit of Ushio’s outdoor studio in Tokyo.
Since Ushio habitually threw all his art into the Sumida River after each exhibition, the studio loaned to him by a farmer was empty. Thinking quickly, he mixed flour and water and pasted cheap sheets of paper on the wall. He then wrapped his hands with a ripped shirt, soaked his hands in Japanese Sumi Ink, and then furiously punched at the papers until he had a studio full of paintings. As his fists hit the paper, a new form of painting/performance art was born. This later became known as “Boxing Painting” and “The Action”.
In Tokyo in 1961, the photographer William Klein, known for the machine gun speed of his photography, witnessed the same speed with Ushio’s “Boxing Painting”, found it ideal subject. Afterward his photographs of Ushio went to museums all around the world making “Boxing Painting” famous.
Always spontaneous, Ushio’s work never stayed in the same place long. In 1964, Ushio was introduced to the Savage Ukiyoe prints of the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Quite moved and excited, Ushio started making his Oiran (Coutesan) Series. Ushio had studied the western style oil painting at Tokyo National Art University which was dominated by the influence of French Impressionism, but he started painting many masterful flat paintings like “Doll’s Festival”, “Hand Miller”, “Oiran”---etc.
In 1969, Ushio was invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to spend one year in New York City, which he had been wanting to visit. While in New York Ushio happened to see more than hundred Motorcycle Hell’s Angels rolling down Broadway on their machines like Kabuki Actors walking through the runway.
“Cool! Looks like Marlon Blando’s ‘Wild One’! Guys wearing caps with skeletons and some guys riding behind the Motorcycle Queens driving the machines! Oh, I’m so excited.” He then started making his well known cardboard Motorcycle Sculptures.
Later the street itself, Canal Street in Downtown N.Y. where he lived, became the subject of his paintings too.
People so colorful jumping out from the subway entrance like a Spider Lily blossoms at his best under the glaring summer sun. Ushio wanted to pour Strawberry ice cream and green Tabasco onto his paintings. Ushio imagined even more, “If I brought the princess of gentle birth from Heian Period here, what would happened to my work?” He asked.
While he continued painting New York Series, he introduced the quiet space of the Heian Period painting in jammed New York, and made the “Genji Series” almost unnoticed.
Heading into the 21st century, without passing through Silk Road, Ushio arrived in Greece, the world of Mythology.
“Wow! How vigorous the sexual desire of the Gods! Their plain lust and passion are more than that of downtown New York where everybody radiates naked energy!”
Fascinated by The Prince with lilies at The Labyrinth in Crete, Ushio’s mind was dreaming about “Greek Fantasy”.
While human’s world continues to repeat bloodsheds, how can art ignore it with flowers and beauty? The Oiran Series in the Twenty first Century becomes a bloody massacre and Ushio continues to run in The Rabyrinth of the art,---- forever.
“Help!”
Aphrodite is smiling disguised as Oiran riding a motorcycle.
Noriko Shinohara, 2008
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篠原 有司男展 「血だらけ花魁殺し」
Galerie oko, Berlin
１９９４年にノーベル文学賞を受賞するずっと前、未だ２０代だった大江健三郎は同世代の芸術家、篠原有司男を訪問した。有司男のアトリエに向かう道すがら、大江氏は有司男に「篠原くん、君のアトリエにはどういう作品があるのかい？」と質問した。有司男は返事に窮した。お百姓さんから空いた畑を只で借りて野外アトリエと称してはいたけれど、作品らしいものはなかったから。咄嗟の機知で有司男は５円のーーー紙を１０枚土塀に張り、T－シャツを引き裂いて手に巻きつけ墨汁に浸し、紙に向かってBoxingをした。それが有司男とBoxing Paintingとの出会いであり、瞬間の芸術との出会いだった。
マシーンガン シャッター スピードで名高いWilliam Kleinは１９６１年に東京で有司男のBoxing Paintingに彼自身と同じスピード感を目撃した。Mr.Kleinの「Boxing Painter」が世界的に有名になり永遠性を持った後も、有司男の芸術はそこに止まらなかった。
１９６４年の幕末残酷版画との出会いが「花魁シリーズ」を生み出した。東京芸大の油科出身の有司男は浮世絵に影響され「女の祭り」、「手鏡」、「花魁」などの平面絵画の傑作を描き続けた。
１９６９年にRockefeller Foundationの招待であこがれのNew Yorkに到着、「カッコイイ！マーロン・ブランドの『Wild One』みたいだ！帽子に髑髏を付けた野郎たちと、そいつらを後ろに乗っけてオートバイに乗っかるMotorcycle Queen! ああ、興奮するなあ！」
１００台以上ものマシーンでBroadwayを花舞台として通過するMotorcycle Angeles を現実に見て以来、有司男はダンボールでオートバイ彫刻を作り始めた。
住み始めた下町のCanal Streetは将にウシオの作品の舞台だった。
地下鉄の入り口から飛び出してくるColorfulな人種は、夏のぎらつく太陽の下で咲き誇る曼珠沙華。絵の中にStrawberry Ice CreamとGreenのTabascoをぶっ掛けたいくらい。その上、有司男は思った。
「ああ、ここにお城の深窓でお育ちになった平安時代の姫君をお連れしたらどんなことになるだろうーーー？」
「N.Y.シリーズ」を描き続けているうちに、平安時代の絵画の空間をN.Y.のごったがえしの中に取り込み、いつの間にか「源氏シリーズ」ができていた。
２１世紀、シルク・ロードを通らないでアメリカ経由でギリシャ神話の世界に辿り着いた。
「神々は何て性欲が盛んなんだろう！そのあからさまの情欲は剥き出しのエネルギーを発散させるニューヨークの下町以上じゃないか！」
CreteのThe Labyrinthで百合の王子に見とれつつ、「ギリシャ・ファンタジー」のアイデアに夢が駆け巡った。
それなのに人間世界は殺戮を繰り返している。奇麗事じゃあ済ませられない。
２１世紀の「花魁シリーズ」は血だらけの殺戮となり、有司男は永遠にArtの迷宮を疾走し続ける。
「助けてくれー！」
美の女神がバイクに乗ったおいらんの姿で微笑んでいる。
篠原乃り子 ２００８年