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THE WORLD OF YABUUCHI SatoshiEsculptor
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| When I visit an old temple, I always like to run my hands over the huge cypress columns that support the roof. Large pieces of wood emit an aura of tranquillity, the wood transmitting an indescribable warmth and sense of security. Gigantic steel girders may also project a sense of security, but they are lacking in warmth, concrete does not instill a feeling of peace.When I work, I rely on memories of "touch". If I want to create a dog, I think back to the dog we used to keep when I was a child, to the feel of its wet nose, its soft, cool ears, the rows of teats on its stomach and the dusty smell of its coat. My works represent the reconstitution of feelings of touch. An object that has been recreated in a medium differing from that of the original can be described as a fake, (although I prefer to refer to them as representations) or in modern terminology, as a form of virtual reality. People find themselves strangely attracted to things like this, things that resemble but differ from the reality. I think that everybody must at some time have discovered the semblance of something familiar in the shape of clouds or mountains and derived pleasure from the experience. In the same vein, I believe that this is why people are all attracted to young creatures, regardless of species. It is because the young resemble the adult animal but are different, and this arouses a basic curiosity within us all. The reason why realistic works of art have been popular throughout history and the world is also has its roots in this psychological effect.The Japanese people have always enjoyed a highly developed sense of touch. The degree of finish in their arts and crafts is excellent and the precision of their industrial products is recognized thought the world. Culturally speaking, it can be said that they excel more in sensory fields, particularly those connected to touch, than in conceptual fields such as ideology or philosophy. This is why they have the ability to copy an object so perfectly that it can almost be called art and as a result, these fakes fill our daily lives for instance: artificial fabrics that are identical to silk, plastic objects that not only resemble lacquer externally, but even weigh approximately the same. When I was in high school, I was amazed to learn that English-speaking people differentiate between the terms "made of" and "made from" but I realize now that this reflects the way they look at imitations. A book of wallpaper samples contains papers that have been made to resemble cloth, Japanese paper, stone, sand, or wood and although Westerners find these fascinating, they do not value them very highly, they are only interested in them for their novelty of color or design. The same is true of artificial rock-siding for buildings, no matter how real it may appear, Japanese and Westerners will value it differently. From this, it can be surmised that a race of craftsmen value an object for the work that went into it's creation whereas a people who value concepts exhibit more interest in the idea behind the object. Whether a counterfeit is considered a fake or whether it is valued for the way in which it copies the original exactly is something that springs from differences in receptivity to the feel of the real thing. Having said this, however, children today live in an environment where everything they touch, from their toothbrush, tableware, clothes, bags, and stationary to furniture, flooring, interior decorations, toys, and computer games are all made of plastic. Even roads, school playgrounds, buildings, and the vehicles they ride in are constructed of manmade materials and it is very rare for them to come into contact with real objects. Having known nothing else since birth, they have no way of realizing that these materials were originally made to replace natural ones and would no doubt be amazed to hear that silk is made by caterpillars, cotton comes from flowers and that buttons were originally made from seashells. Natural materials are part of the great bounty provided for us by Mother Earth and nurture feelings of respect and gratitude within us but manmade materials fail to evoke the similar emotions. This is a serious problem and one that I believe will influence the future direction of Japanese culture. In the later half of the twentieth century there was a powerful movement in the West to return to nature, but I think that Japan is still standing at the crossroads and it remains to be seen which route it will choose to follow. iMarch. 2000) |
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