■Waiting As the Space
Eggs of Light Incubate
by Junichi Arai (Textile Planner)
There is a certain pleasure, a certain joy that we
experience when we find ourselves face to face with the unknown,
the unseen of this world. But when we look back upon what we
have seen, the experience may turn horrifying and we feel as
if we have been through the abyss of horror.
To know the unknown, to see the unseen. Perhaps it
means the timeliness of an art. It is the advance guard of the
times who can see what is to come with the desire to know our
fears as our real nature who open the eyes of those who cannot
see that which is before them. Such is the fate of an artist.
Seeing the work of that magician of light Minori Yamazaki is
just such an experience - experiencing the unknown, seeing what
has not been seen. It is not simply the passive experience of
viewing art. No, that isn't it all.
The viewer creates the same experience just as the
artist does when encountered with Yamazaki's work. l wonder if
Yamazaki himself is aware of all that his work imparts to the
viewer? I doubt it. Yet it is he, the artist, who understands
the interplay between light and his work better than any dazzled
viewer of the unknown. Yamazaki knows that he cannot keep up
with what he creates. It becomes too much for even him. Therefore,
he speaks lightly of that his own creations live alongside him
in the times as the inevitable fruit of his labor. He often talks
of how he wants his viewers to enjoy his work.
He speaks calmly as if talking about someone else's
creation. The world that Yamazaki creates with his works is as
infinitely varied as the physical function of the viewer allows
it to be. Of course, this is true for all works of art. It's
all a question of degrees of sensitivity and the ability of the
soul to grasp what is presented. It is a process that leads to
freedom of sensitivity. At any rate, that's how Yamazaki describes
it. But I'm not so easily convinced. What we have here is no
simple mechanical gadget in a cheap circus tent. The act of viewing
brings about the birth of sensitivity in the eyes of the viewer
who is then captured by that sensitivity. That's what it's all
about.
The process of knowing the unknown and seeing the
unseen is the same for the artist and the viewer alike. They
are both captivated by what they experience. It is no rare phenomenon
for a work of art to end up different from the initial image
that led the artist to create it. But it is rare that an artist
sees his own work and recoils in utter shock and horror when
he grasps what he has done. One should not be surprised if in
viewing Yamazaki's work he dis-covers something that the artist
himself has not seen. Perhaps this is what Yamazaki means when
he talks of the timeliness of what he creates. It is not simply
a matter of an artist bringing forth a creation from nothing.
It is the age in which he works that is the creator and he, the
artist, is there to help in the process of creation partly by
putting himself in a viewer's place. Of course without Yamazaki
his works could not be.
It would be better to say that the works are the result
of a collaboration between Yamazaki and his age. What allows
Yamazaki to so unpretensiously create his network of light is
precisely the fact that in the process he finds himself to some
extent an observer watching as his age creates. This frees him
from any possibility of artistic arrogance. These are not such
weak apparitions as the fleeting sparks given off by fireworks
against a night sky or electric illumination which are turned
on and oft with a switch. In the midst of Yamazaki's "Cumos"
we find the existence of dotted light that has been locked in
tight. The more he tries to extract that light out of the case
that contains it, the more it leads him into the world of the
internal experience. l wonder what will arises from the Space
Eggs of Light. Perhaps we will witness the moment when we are
liberated from our fear and expectation. The insolent images
that we can draw from Yamazaki's rough sketches have yet to be
accepted by his viewers. There's nothing to do but wait with
keen interest.
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未知、未見の世界を体感することは、時に快楽であり、愉悦であったとしても。 ひるがえって思えば、おぞましく、恐怖の淵に立たされた感もある。 知らずもがなのことを知り、見ずもがなのものを見る。 これが時代性であり、恐いもの見たさが人間の本性としてあって、 盲いたる眼を開かせるのが、時代の尖兵である。芸術家の因果であろう。 光の魔術師、ヤマザキ・ミノリが見せる未知、未見の世界を体験する時がそうである。 この時、観照者もまた作者体験をする。 ヤマザキは、自分自身の仕事について、その一切全てを気づいてはいないのかもしれぬ。 しかし、その作品を見て、その世界に捕えられるどんな観照者よりも、ヤマザキは、 自分の作品と光とのかかわりを知っている。 ヤマザキの作品が、音もなく作者を超えてしまうことを、ヤマザキは知っているのだ。 だから彼は、自分の作品を、時代に生きている必然の所産たと、こともなげに言う。 その作品を、大いに楽しんでほしいと言ったりする。まるで人ごとのように、素直に、 そう言い放つ。ヤマザキ作品の世界は、全ての芸術作品が多かれ少なかれそうであると同じく、 観照者自身の官能力によって、千変万化だ。 感性の強弱、大小、時に魂の能力を間われることになる。急性が自由になれる。 ヤマザキはそう言うが、そんなものではあるまい。見世物小屋のインチキなカラクリではない。 観照することによって見者に感性は産まれるのであって、やがて、見者はその感性に捕らわれるのだ。 未知、未見を識ることにおいて、作者ヤマザキも、観照者も同じ捕らわれ人になる。 多くの芸術作品にあって、作者の意図した結果が思い通りに成らぬ恨みはあっても、 まるで意表をつかれ、作者自身がたじろぐことなと、そう多くありはしない。 ヤマザキの作品にあっては、作者以外の発見を見出す観照者の存在の可能性が大きい。 作品の時代性について彼の言う意味は、このことにあるのではないか。 作者が、作品を産みだす。それだけではない。 時代が産む物を、作者の半分は観照者の立場にあって、手助けしていく。 ヤマザキなくしては、存在し得ない、まこうことなきヤマザキの作品を、時代と共に作る。 ヤマザキが、平然と、「光」を操っていられるのは、こうして、時代の産物を見つづけることによって、 傲慢な作者気取りから解放されているからだ。 夜空に消える花火や、取り壊されるイルミネーションではない。 ヤマザキの「キューモス」の中には、閉じこめられた「光」の実在がある。 彼がそれを、箱の外に取り出そうとすればするほど、「光」は内部体験の世界に連れ出す。 「光の宇宙卵」から何が産れるのか。恐れと、期待の解放の瞬間を見ることが出来るのか。 ヤマザキの準備の絵図面から、想像する不遜だけは、今、観照者に許されていない。