竹川宣彰――海、和解の場としての可能性
世界の姿を俯瞰する地図には、たくさんの線が引かれている。それは国と国との境を記すためのものであり、その土地の境を巡って、世界中でさまざまな摩擦が生じていることを私たちは知っている。寄せては返し、絶えず姿を変える海の上にさえ、人は線を引き、領海を争う。
6大陸を隔てる「海」と航海に繰り出す人々の冒険の指針となる「地図」は、竹川宣彰の作品における重要なモチーフである。美大で油画を学ぶうちに、欧米美術の文脈に則った絵画を制作することに違和感を覚え、欧米中心の美術史観に疑問を抱くようになった竹川は、近年特にアジア地域に着目しながら、西と東の世界とをわけ隔てると同時に繋ぐ「海」を舞台に繰り広げられてきた人類の壮大な歴史に思いを馳せ、その背後に隠れるさまざまな葛藤や抗争を見出す。
1枚の世界地図から複数の小さな地球を作り出す作品“Globes in the sky”について、「現代において想像し冒険する私たちにとって、既存の地球儀はもはや固定観念でしかない」と語る竹川によって、領地を定める恣意的なボーダーは意図もたやすく無に帰される。ほぼ一面を海だけで覆われたいくつもの地球は、いつまでも境目に固執する人々をあざ笑うかのように軽やかに宙に浮かぶ。アジアのある地域ではなじみの深いナマコ――海の砂を食し、重要な栄養素だけを体内に取り入れ、それ以外のものを吐き出して砂を浄化する生物も、作品のモチーフとなる。透明な「ナマコ」が、領海を侵犯し海の平和を脅かす征服者としての海賊船をその体内に取り込み閉じ込めているのであれば、海に平和をもたらす存在と言えるだろう。しかしそれを、隣国を侵略し、領土や人々を奪取し、消化、吸収しようとする強国と見なすならば、海を不穏に陥れる存在となる。一切の遠近感が排除され、一様に「波」が広がる”Wave Drawing”では、国家などの権力によって引き起こされるあらゆる衝突は、さざ波によって解消されうるかのような錯覚に陥る。
いにしえより海は、異民族や異教、異文化もが流入してくる交流の場であった。私たちが暮らすアジア地域もいくつもの海と数々の島を有している。初めて目にするさまざまな異質なもの同士が邂逅する「海」という場は、一方で混乱や摩擦を引き起こしながら、他方で、混淆によってまだ見ぬ新種の萌芽をもたらすだけでなく、摩擦を和解へと導く可能性たたえた希望の場でもあるということを、竹川の作品は示唆してくれる。
角 奈緒子
Nobuaki Takekawa − Oceans as potential sites of reconciliation.
On aerial maps of the world one finds many lines. These serve to mark the borders between various countries, tracing the boundaries between one piece of earth and another, and, as we know, have given rise to myriad frictions around the globe. Even on the restless, ever-changing ocean, people draw lines to contest territorial waters.
The “oceans” separating the six continents, and the “maps” that guided the ships of those who set out to explore them, are important motifs in Nobuaki Takekawa’s artwork. While studying oil painting at university, Takekawa began to feel uneasy about working in such a Western mode of practice, and questioned Western-centric art historical perspectives. Particularly focusing on the Asian region in recent years, Takekawa has become interested in the magnificent cultural history that has unfolded on this “ocean” stage, which has simultaneously separated and connected East and West, yet he has also noticed the kinds of human conflicts and disputes that lie hidden in the background.
Speaking about his work Globes in the Sky, comprising numerous small globes cut out from a large world map, Takekawa says, “For those of us who imagine and explore at present, the globe is already nothing more than a stereotype”. Despite the intentions of the arbitrary borders that define the world’s territories, they readily become nullified. These globes covered solely in continuous ocean seem to be gently floating in the universe, as if to mock those people who continue to stubbornly cling to borders.
Particularly familiar to many places in Asia, the sea cucumber―an animal that consumes the ocean’s sand, retaining only the nutrients, while spitting out the rest, cleaning the sand in the process―has also become a motif of Takekawa’s work. When a transparent “sea cucumber” captures and contains a pirate ship, of the kind known to invade territorial waters, violating the ocean’s peace―one might say that it is a peacekeeping force in the ocean. However, seen as a powerful nation, attempting to invade neighboring countries, to disposes their land and people, “consuming” them and drawing out their resources, it seems more like a destabilizing presence in the ocean. In the uniform spreading ripples of Wave Drawing, with all sense of perspective completely removed, human conflicts arising from the right of powerful nations seem almost to surrender to optical illusion.
Since antiquity the oceans have been sites of exchange, where difference ethnicities, religions and cultures have mixed. Indeed, the Asian region we live in has numerous seas and a variety of small islands. The ocean can seem, at first glance, like a chance meeting point between various differences; on the one hand giving rise to chaos and friction. On the other hand, it is not simply that it brings the germ of previously unknown, hybrid species. Rather, it leads the way in showing the ocean’s potential to reconcile differences, to become a site of hope―as suggested in Takekawa’s artwork.
Naoko Sumi
Translation: Olivier Krischer
