登攀する身体と兆す光 ~千田泰広の作品をめぐって
金井 直 [ 信州大学人文学部 哲学・芸術論コース 芸術コミュニケーション分野 教授 ]
美しいものは、相矛盾するもののさまざまな结びつきを含んでいるが、とりわけ瞬间的なものと永远なものとの结びつきを内包している。 シモーヌ・ヴェーユ
光に触れること。光が照らす何かに、ではなく、光にであうこと。千田泰広が国内外で発表する 作品は、我々と光との新しい関係を開く。それらはライト・アートと呼ばれるだろう。じっさい千田はアムステルダム・ライト・フェスティヴァルなど、国際的なライト・アート展に多く参加・出品しており、その分野での評価も極めて高い。あるいは光のインスタレーションと呼ばれるかもしれない。絵画・彫刻のような近代的なジャンルの枠を超えて空間に働きかけ、観者へと開かれるその作品群は、確かにインスタレーションという1980 年代以降一般化した脱ジャンル傾向の現在形として理解されるものである。ライト・アート、光を用いたインスタレーションとしての千田作品。確かにそうである。しかし、そうした呼び分けを越えた何かがそこにはありそうだ。
実作のうち、とくに規模の大きい作例に目を向けよう。千田の代表作のひとつ、《Myrkviðr》では、暗闇の中から現われては消えるごく短い光のパッセージ=明滅のグリッサンドが空間全体にアトランダム に広がり、我々を包むかと思えば、一転、一気に逃れ去る。視覚に支えられた距離感覚と空間把握はその都度、退き、次の変化への期待のなかで、むしろ体性感覚が研ぎ澄まされる。つまり、都 度、未知の均衡のなかにある自らに出会う。
豊科近代美術館で 2019 年に展示された《Analemma R》においても、鑑賞者は同様の経験に導かれるが、決定的に異なるのは、基調となる運動・重力の方向である。《Myrkviðr》 では光のカオティックな一斉蜂起によって我々は重力から逃れるような感覚を得たが、ここでは、せり上がる無数の光線が水平面を成しつつ上昇し、やがて観る者の視点・背丈を乗り越える。我々は言わば光面の下に潜る。短い光波に飲まれる。息をのむ瞬間を繰り返し経験する。そこにはある種の受苦(パッション)の気配さえ漂うだろう。光面が瞬時にまた足元に落ちるとき、今度は救済や復活の感覚も高まってくる。《Myrkviðr》が宇宙論的・神話論的な無限を味合わせてくれるとすれば、《Analemma R 》には一種のカタルシス、崇高をかすめる劇的なシークエンスが存在していて――私はふとシェイクスピア劇を思いだした――鑑賞者の心理を絶えず揺さぶっていくのである。
こうした千田作品共通の性質は何か。言うまでもなく光そのものの強度であろう。発光する力を、たとえ光量そのものが微小でも最大限に活かす仕組みである。この意味で、千田の《Brocken》 はいっそう範例的なシリーズと言える。作品の規模は大きいが構造は比較的単純で、ひとまずは多数の穿孔が施されたキューブと言えばよいだろう。しかし、その単純さこそがまさしく壮麗の原資であ る。屋外に設置されたその構造体の内部に入ってみると、孔から入り込む無数の光線が、光源= 太陽の位置を中心に放射状に広がっていき、その高度や微気象の変化に応じて、緩やかに、とき に劇的な変化をもたらす。繰り返し訪れる光線の圧倒的な充溢は、それが説明可能な自然現象であるにもかかわらず、むしろ遍在する光の力能を観る者に直観させる。自然への単純な介入によって美的経験の舞台が現われるのである。豊科の展示では《Brocken》の構造を一部中庭に組み 込む試みがなされ、常設の高田博厚彫刻の表面に、モデリングの律動を超える生気が加わっていた。《Brocken》は近代的な作者の意図・介入・操作を抑制し、むしろ場の条件に鑑賞者の感覚・ 意識を開く。ポスト近代の芸術の好例と言えるだろう。
さて、このように見てくると、千田の作品を単にライト・アートと呼ぶこと、光を扱うインスタレーションとして括ることの不十分さも明らかとなってくるのではないか。多くのライト・アートはいわゆるイルミネーションやプロジェクション・マッピングの形式を採用する。要するに、場 = 支持体の装飾-縁取りであったり、 なにものかのイメージの再現であることが多い。あるいは精緻にプログラミングされた3D的なプロジェクションで、鑑賞者を取り込む最新のスペクタクル装置であったり、逆に、日常の物が織りなす影絵であったりする。そのようなイリュージョン・イルミネーション・プロジェクションとは別の光との接し方を、千田は我々に示してくれているのではないか。つまり、光そのものの潜勢力に触れること、影-イメージ(投影像)、あるいは照らされる可視物との関係で光を捉えるのではなく、むしろ光自体の徴候的な現われをみつめることである。ここでは、光は明示しない。再現表象とは結びつかない。照明ではない。手段ではない。量に走らない(強い光で鑑賞者の感覚を麻痺させるような量的崇高とは無縁である)。要するに徴候的に、何かとしてではなく、それとして現われる。
こう考えてくると、そもそも千田にとって、光=ライトなのか、という問いも生じよう。明暗や光と影といった二項対立を引き寄せるlightという英語ではどこかもどかしくはないか。“明るさ lightness”に一種の価値のニュアンス、文化的バイアスが入り込む点も気にかかる。ゆえに、私はむしろ、光そのものの力を含意するフォトphotoをもって千田作品を語りたい。ギリシア語の光 phosに由来するこの語は、エネルギーと運動に関わる光子(フォトン photon)にも近く(光合成もphoto-synthesis である)、《Myrkviðr》や《Brocken》の鑑賞経験とも強く共鳴するだろう。ライト・アートではなく、フォト・アートとして千田の制作実践である(無論、現在の用語としてはフォトにはあまりに写真の意味が強く、 この呼称をもって千田の活動を平易に伝えることは難しい。が、本質的には、photo なのである)。
この意味で、《0.04》 はきわめて示唆的だ。膨張・垂下・破裂する水滴のレンズを介して光は 拡散収縮し、空間全体を包み、括る。そしてはぜる。言わば光の水琴窟である。観る者は、光の変化の周期に、耳に代わって眼と皮膚を澄ます。はじめてこの作品に接したとき、私もまた、眼に映る、皮膚に触れる光の揺れを経験しながら、ふと、ここでは光が水に照らされているな、と感じたのであった。不可能である。しかし、この逆転の感覚、錯覚にこそ、到来する光 photoそのものに向き合い続ける千田の営為の本質に触れるものがあったように思う。つまり、光によって、ではなく、絶えず光を、なのである。光を待ち、受けることである。
《0.04》のみならず千田作品における期待/待機の重要性は、必然的に鑑賞者と作品の時間・関係を豊かにするだろう。そこには作者の意図や技巧の誇示もなく、鑑賞上の指示もない。ゆえに我々はいっそう自由に、ひとつの庭や風景に立ち入るかのように展示空間に分け入り、時を過ごすことになる。鑑賞における時・空の量が増すにつれて、作品はいっそう観る者に近づき匿名性を帯び、近代的な意味での作者の存在感は希薄に、ますます透明になっていくだろう。千田作品において我々は、誰の者でもない場、所有格抜きの空間を行き交うのである(そこにカント的な無関心性の発露を見い だすこともできよう)。「制作とは、私から作品を自由にすること」とは千田の言葉である。シモーヌ・ヴェー ユの言葉も思いだされよう。すなわち「一つの芸術作品には作者がある。とはいえ、その作品が完璧であれば、そこには本質的に作者の名前を背後におしやるなにものかがある」。
要するに「眺めることと待つこと、これが美しいものに対してとるべき態度である」(S・ヴェーユ)。徴候的、非再現的、非人称的な千田の作品に触れながら、我々はまさしく光 photo を経験するのである。一方、忘れてはならないのは、このあたかも自然現象のような作品・作者の透明感を実現しているのが、逆説的にも、千田自身の不断の思考・思慮と巧緻かつ密度ある制作の交差であるということである。19世紀後半から20世紀中葉の主観主義、いささか直情的な表現主義的傾向、そして、その後のコンセプト優位・脱熟練志向の美術史に照らせば、千田の営為はいずれにせよ 主流を成すものではないだろう。しかし、とりわけその技能的実践への傾斜は、メチエへの回帰という20世紀美術史に間歇的に登場する志向と一脈通じつつ、同時に、人類学的語彙(ホモ・ファーベルやブリコラージュなど)にも接していて、きわめて間-文脈的で豊饒である。
具体的に。千田の作品において、徴候的、非再現的、非人称的な光の現われを支えているものはいったい何か。眼を寄せればよい。あるいは増光すればよい。見えてくるのは、密に張り巡らされたテグスであったり、ランダムに施された多数の穿孔である。《Myrkviðr》において、千田は展示空間の四方を(いや、六方と言うべきか)をひたすら行きつ戻りつしながら――あたかも蚕のように――天蚕糸を縦横に、細やかにかけていった。その総延長は豊科の《Myrkviðr》の場合、5kmに達する。《Brocken》では、組み立て前のスチール材に、工具でひたすら孔が穿たれるのであるが(約5万)、その作業の労はどれほどのものだろう。要するに千田の作品に触れるという経験は、光を見る以前に、圧倒的な量-労の痕跡に包まれるということなのである。その痕跡は、無論、単に労苦の証ではない。言いたいのは、それらが作者の身振りの記録、身体の索引(インデックス)であるということだ。
想像してほしい、腕を伸ばし、糸をもちつつ場を行き交う身体を。あるいはミニマルな動作の徹底反復に没入する身体を。それ自体ダンスやパフォーマンスのパートのようでもあり、また、千田が好む登攀・ 登山の動作や構えをも連想させる。つまり、作品空間の糸や孔の位置や量、疎密の全体が、前もって、一種の身体譜として作者の存在を証しているのである。展示空間とは紛うことなき生の舞台なのである。
しかし、それは直には眼差されない。あくまでも光がそこを滑るとき、一瞬、ほとんど徴候的に現われるのみである(プンクトゥム的一撃だ)。この一瞬の立ち現われ、徴候的な光と身体の索引という対極の共在にこそ、千田作品の魅力の核心があると私は考えている。非再現的 non-representative で非人称的な光の群れが兆しとして、再現-上演的 representative で人称的な痕跡を撃つ、束の間の、徴候かつ索引という矛盾の詩学である。徴候かつ索引と言えば、現在を照らしつつも(かつ象徴的に未来をはらみつつも)実は過去からの到来である恒星の輝きこそ、その始原かつ究極のかたちであろう。その光の特性に、千田は独特の方法で接近しているとも言えそうだ(イカロスではなく、言わばペルセウスのように直視を避け、テセウスのように糸をたぐり寄せて)。その輝きを分かち合うべく、我々は繰り返し千田の作品空間に分け入り、時を待つのである。
もちろん千田がこれまでに実現してきた作品は多様である。とくに小中規模の作品のコンセプトや仕組みはより個別的で、光の捉え方もさまざまである(たとえば《Light Print》や《Scale》は反射・ 投影を積極的に用いる作例であり、徴候-索引、人称-非人称の交差や循環とは直接関わらない)。しかしながら、広く空間に働きかける作品においては、上述の徴候かつ索引というモチーフが常に何らかのかたちで現われる。たとえば《SONAR》では、水・音・光の微小な作用と循環が空間に放たれ(徴候的なシグナル)、場の余韻と結びついていった《SONAR》 の初出は、歴史の痕跡とエコーの強さが印象的な修道院の一室であった。作者の身体に代わって、そこでは歴史と建築構造が索引・余韻を作品に授けていた)。そうした場への関わり方にこそ、建築や空間の構造に強い関心を抱いてきた千田の資質がよく現われているのではないか。それをインスタレーションと呼ぶことは容易い。サイトスペシフィックなアプローチとして捉えることも正しい。が、そうした美術史の柵や壁を、千田はむしろ登攀し、踏破する。その痕跡を、光が照らし、奏でるのである。祝福すると言ってもよいかもしれない。そのとき徴候は恩寵へと転ずるだろうか。それは、しかし、いずれにせよ掴むことはできない。それは作者とともに待つべきものだ。まずは作品のまえに静かに身を置こう。
「へだたりは美しいものの生命である」(ヴェーユ)。
付記
文中の引用はすべてシモーヌ・ヴェーユ『重力と恩寵』渡辺義愛訳、春秋社、2009 年 による。
徴候と索引をめぐる議論については、以下を参照。中井久夫「世界における索引と徴候」『徴候・記憶・外傷』みすず書房、2004 年。
出典
展覧会図録『千田泰広 ーイメージからの解放ー 』武蔵野市立吉祥寺美術館、2020年。
The Climbing Body and Symptomatic Light: On the Works of Yasuhiro Chida
Tadashi Kanai, Professor, Faculty of Arts, Shinshu University
“Among other unions of contraries found in beauty there is that of the instantaneous and the eternal.”Simone Weil
To experience light not something that is illuminated by light, but for one to encounter light. The works of Yasuhiro Chida, shown nationally and internationally, open new relationships for us with light. His works tend to be labeled as“light art.”In fact, Chida has participated in quite a few international light-art exhibitions, such as the Amsterdam Light Festival, which have gained him quite a reputation in that genre. They might also be labeled under the category“light art installation.”His body of works that opens toward the viewers via his interacting with each space is beyond the framework of“modern” artistic genres, such as painting and sculpture. Thus, it is true that his expression would generally be thought as being among the present form of installation art that has a post- genre tendency, which became generalized in the 1980s. In this respect, Chida’s works would certainly be considered as light art, that is, installation art utilizing light. Even so, his works have an intangible quality that transcends such ways of differentiation.
Out of his oeuvre, I would like to focus on the large-scale works. In one of Chida’s masterworks, the Myrkviðr series, very short passages/flickers of light appear and disappear from within the darkness in a glissando manner, while those numerous lights also spread out randomly across the entire space. Hence, the moment we feel the lights enveloping us, they all suddenly slip away. Our senses of distance and spatial recognition that are supported by our visual perception recede every time the lights disappear. Our own somatic sensation is sharpened in the interim while we wait in anticipation for the next transformation to happen. This means that at every interim, we encounter our own selves within an unknown balance.
In Analemma R, which Chida exhibited at the Azumino Municipal Museum of Modern Art, Toyoshina in 2019, the viewers were led to have a similar experience as in Myrkviðr. But the decisive difference between the two works was the basic direction of movement/ gravitation. In Myrkviðr, the chaotic, simultaneous rise of the lights allowed us to feel as if we had escaped gravity. But in Analemma R, countless lines of light ascended as they formed a horizontal two-dimensional plane, which soon rose higher than the viewers’ visual points and heights. This means that we were under the layer of light. We were swallowed by the short, light waves, while also repeatedly experiencing breathtaking moments. One could even sense Passion/suffering in the air. When the layer of lights all of a sudden fell on our feet, this time a sense of salvation or resurrection began to grow within us. If Myrkviðr is seen as allowing us to experience the cosmological/mythological infinity, Analemma R constantly stirs the viewer’s state of mind, for it contains a dramatic sequence with a sense of catharsis/sublimity something akin to a Shakespeare play crossed my mind as I viewed this work.
A common feature found in Chida’s works is unquestionably the strength of light itself. That is, his works share a structure that fully utilizes the ability to emit light, regardless of how minute the actual quantity of light may be. The most representative example of this is his series Brocken. The scale of this series is large, but the structure is relatively simple. At this point, I will just say that the structure is in a cubic form, to which is applied numerous, tiny, punched holes. But in this simplistic structure lies the source of a magnificent view. Upon entering the cubic structure installed outdoors, one sees countless rays of light piercing through the tiny holes, which also spread radially from the center. This is the position of the light source/sun. That sight transforms gently, but at times drastically, in accordance with the altitude of the sun and micrometeorological changes. Despite the fact that the overwhelming abundance of rays that repeatedly appears is an explainable natural phenomenon, the viewers intuitively perceive the power of the omnipresent lights. The stage for an aesthetic experience manifests itself through Chida’s simple intervention with nature. At his exhibition in Toyoshina, he incorporated a part of the structure of Brocken into the courtyard of the museum, where Hiroatsu Takata’s sculpture is permanently installed. The surface of Takata’s sculpture was given a vitality that exceeded the sense of rhythm in the modeling itself. In Brocken, “modern”ideas of the artist’s aim, intervention and manipulation are controlled, allowing the viewer’s senses and mind to open toward the conditions of the venue themselves.
Surveying his works as we have done reveals the insufficiency of simply referring to Chida’s works as light art, generalizing them as installation artworks that utilize light. Quite a few light-art works by other artists have adopted formats that are so-called “illumination”and“projection mapping.”That is, these styles are often used to decorate/outline the venue/support, or else tend to employ the reproductions of existing images. At times, light art is also created as the newest spectacular device that draws the viewer’s attention through an elaborately programed 3D-type of projection. Conversely, there are also works of shadow pictures that are created from everyday objects. Is Chida not showing us ways of interacting with light other than via illusion, illumination or projection? In other words, his aim is for us to perceive the power that is latent in light itself, and for us to gaze upon the symptomatic appearance of light, rather than for us to capture light in relation to shadow/image (projection image), or illuminated visible objects. In that situation, the light does not express anything particular, nor is it connected with any representation. It is not an illumination. It is not a means. It does rely on the amount of light (that is, it is utterly unrelated to the idea of the quantitative sublime, which paralyzes the viewer’s senses with intense light). In other words, Chida’s light appears symptomatically, not“as something,”but as light itself.
From what we have so far discussed, one might question“, Does Chida consider hikari (lit. light) to be equivalent to‘light’?”The English word“light”that reminds us Japanese of a binary opposition, such as“light and darkness”or“light and shadow,”somehow does not sit well. I am also somewhat concerned that the English word“lightness”involves a nuance of being light in weight; thus, it creates a cultural bias for Japanese people. Therefore, I would rather refer to Chida’s works with the word“photo,”which implies the strength of light itself. The word“photo,”which derives from the Greek“phos,” meaning“light,”is also close to the word“photon,”which is the smallest unit of light, possessing energy and momentum. Thus, the word“photo”strongly resonates with the experience of viewing Myrkviðr and Brocken. From this perspective, Chida’s works are artistic practices of“photo art”rather than“light art.”(Needless to say, the current use of the word“photo”heavily inclines toward the meaning of“photography;”thus, it is difficult to simply relate to Chida’s activities using this word. But in essence, his works are“photo”art.)
From that perspective, his series 0.04 is quite suggestive. In this series, each water droplet that is illuminated by light acts as a lens as a bead of water forms, drips and then explodes on the floor, creating a flash of light that spreads and then contracts. The light wraps around and then binds the entire space as it falls, while also bursting in different directions. In this way, the work is like a suikinkutsu (Japanese water harp). Instead of using their ears, the viewers strain their eyes and even their skin in concentrating on the cycle of transforming light. On my first encounter with 0.04, as I experienced the wavering of light that met my eyes and touched my skin, it occurred to me that it was the waterdrops that illuminated the lights. In theory, this is impossible. But in that reversed sensation or illusion lies the essence of Chida’s artistic activity, for which he has continued to face the“light/photo”itself that has arrived. In other words, his focus is“alwaysonlight,”not“through light.”He patiently waits for and accepts light.
In Chida’s works, not just limited to 0.04, the important features of“anticipation/ waiting”spontaneously enrich the time the viewer spends with his work, and his/her relationship with the work. His works do not reveal the artist’s aim or display his skills, nor are there any specific ways to view them. This gives us all the more freedom to enter deep into his exhibition space, as if we were venturing into a garden or landscape; thus, we end up spending substantial time inside it. As the time spent viewing his work increases, the work begins to feel closer yet more anonymous. From the“modern” perspective, this means that the artist’s sense of existence diminishes and becomes more invisible. Thus, we as the viewers of Chida’s work are free to move around inside the anonymous place or the space that is not anyone’s possession (in this state, one can find the manifestation of the Kantian idea of“disinterestedness”). Chida once stated: “Producing a work means for me to let go of the work.”One might also recall the words by the French philosopher Simone Weil:“A work of art has an author and yet, when it is perfect, it has something which is essentially anonymous about it.”
Weil declared,“The attitude of looking and waiting is the attitude which corresponds with the beautiful.”Through connecting with Chida’s works, which are symptomatic, non-representational and impersonal, we indeed experience“light/photo”itself. On the other hand, we must not forget that what is making it possible for him to materialize the natural phenomenon-like works and the artist’s sense of invisibility is paradoxically his traversing between his own ceaseless thinking/judgement and the elaborate/substantial production of his works. Chida’s artistic activity is not in any way in the mainstream of art that is, if we are referring to the context of art history that inclined toward a rather impulsive Expressionism that was imbued with Subjectivism from the latter half of the 19th century to the mid-20th century, which was followed by a tendency toward concept-dominated art and the deskilling of art. Nonetheless, Chida’s strong inclination toward putting technical skills into practice has a commonality with the orientation toward the idea of“returning to skills,”which intermittently appeared in the history of 20th-century art. At the same time, his practices are also closely associated with anthropological vocabulary (such as homo faber/man the toolmaker, and bricolage); thus, his works are quite inter-contextual as well as fertile.
Specifically, what in Chida’s works supports the emergence of the symptomatic, non- representational and impersonal light? To find the answer, one can simply take a closer view of his work, or brighten the space. What comes into sight are elements such as the densely stretched out fishing lines, or countless, tiny, random holes. When Chida creates Myrkviðr, while holding a fishing line in his hands, he continuously moves back and forth in four directions (or should I say six directions) inside the exhibition space as if he were a silkwormand meticulously creates polygonal lines. The total length of fishing line he used for Myrkviðr in Toyoshina was five kilometers. In Brocken, prior to constructing steel sheets for the structure, he continued to create holes (approximately fifty thousand) in those sheets with a tool. The amount of effort he puts into that process is immeasurable. Thus, for the viewer to have the experience of connecting with Chida’s work means that, prior to viewing the lights, he/she is enveloped within the traces of his overwhelming amount of work. Those traces are not of course merely the evidence of his hard work. What I mean to say is that they are the record of the artist’s motions and the indexes of his body. Imagine his body going back and forth while holding a fishing line with his arms stretched out, or his body immersed in a thorough repetition of minimal movements. These movements are in themselves like a part of a dance or performance. They also remind one of the movements or posture one makes when climbing a mountain or some other obstacle, which Chida is fond of doing. In other words, the positions and numerous amount of strings/holes, and the entire density level inside the exhibit space are the evidence of the artist’s existence, shown in the form of “bodily scores”like in music. Hence, his exhibition space is unmistakably the stage for a live show.
However, that live show itself does not directly come into the viewer’s sight. The lights only emerge strictly when they glide through the stageappearing both instantaneously and mostly symptomatically (having an impact like that described by Roland Barthes’ concept of the punctum). In my view, the essential appeal of Chida’s works definitively lies in that instantaneous manifestation and in the coexistence of opposite ideas symptomatic lights and bodily indexes. The cluster of non-representative, impersonal lights, seen as a symptom, strikes the representative, personal traces of the artist’s body via light. These ephemeral poetics of contradiction contain symptoms as well as indexes. Speaking of the idea that something can be a “symptom as well as index,” the origin and ultimate form of this idea is the radiance of a star, which illuminates the present (while also symbolically containing the future) but which in fact arrived from the past. One can say that Chida approaches the peculiarity of that light via his own unique method (not like Icarus, but more like Perseus, who avoided direct tactics, and like Theseus, who pulled the necessary strings). We as viewers repeatedly enter into the space of Chida’s work and wait for the time of radiance to come, so that we can each have a share of it.
Needless to say, Chida has realized a distinct variety of works up through today. The concepts and structures of his small and mid-size works are more individualistic than the larger ones, and their interpretations of light vary. (For instance, his series Light Print and Scale are examples in which he actively adopted the motifs of reflection and projection, but they do not directly involve the elements of intersection and circulatory flow between“symptom/index”or“personal/impersonal.”) However, in the works in which he acts upon the wide range of an exhibition space, a motif that contains both symptoms and indexes always appears in some form. For instance, in his series SONAR, subtle actions and the circulatory flow of water, sound and light are released in the space (like a symptomatic signal), before then merging with the resonance created in the space. (The first work in this series was shown in a room inside a convent, where the traces of its history and the distinct echoes that could be heard were quite impressive. In that space, instead of the artist’s body, the architectural structure and its history bestowed the indexes and the resonance on the work.) Such a way of becoming involved with the space well reveals Chida’s innate nature, for he has long held a strong interest in architectural and spatial structures. It is possible for us to readily refer to the convent- based work as installation art. It would also be correct to consider it as taking a site- specific approach. But then, Chida has in fact climbed and surmounted the barriers and walls built by the history of art. The lights in his works illuminate and“play”those traces that resulted from his transcending those barriers. One can also say that the lights gave their blessings to those traces. When that takes place, will the symptoms sublimate to a state of“grace”as referred to by Weil? Whichever the case may be, we are unable to capture it, for we should wait for it together with the artist. Let us begin this quest by quietly placing ourselves before Yasuhiro Chida’s work.
“Distance is the soul of the beautiful.”Weil
Notes
All the quotes (in Japanese) that appeared in the original essay derived from Jyuryoku to oncho (Grace and Gravity), Simone Weil, Japanese translation: Yoshinaru Watanabe, Shunjusha Publishing Company, 2009. Quotes in English derived from Grace and Gravity, translation: Emma Crawford and Mario von der Ruhr/ Routledge & Kagan Paul, 1952
The discussion involving symptoms and indexes that appeared in the essay referenced the following essay: Hisao Nakai,“Sekai ni okeru sakuin to choko”(lit. Symptom and index in the world), Choko, Kioku, Gaisho (lit. Symptom, memory and trauma), Misuzu Shobo, 2004. (T. N.)
Source
Catalog『YASUHIRO CHIDA : Freed From Images 』Musashino city Kichijoji Art Museum, 2020.