Kota Kinutani

「絹谷幸太」展 7月21日(金)~9月20日(水)

「絹谷幸太」展

日時:7月21日(金)~9月20日(水) 11:00~20:00(スタッフ在廊時間 12:00~17:00)
場所:紀尾井タワー2F オフィスエントランス
総合企画:いりや画廊 ※入場無料

東京ガーデンテラス紀尾井町一周年を記念して、彫刻で世界的に活躍する「絹谷幸太」氏の展示会を実施いたします。

展示会場の詳細はこちら

絹谷幸太さんの石彫展によせて

名古屋大学特任教授 足立 守

地球の自然物は動物・植物・鉱物の3つで、これらは水を介してお互いに密接に関連しています。鉱物の集合体が石(岩石)で、風化すると石が分解して土になっていきます。石や土をよく見て考えると、自然の仕組みや地球の歴史が分かります。自然を知るには、しっかりした観察とともに、「自然に学ぶ」、「自然から教えてもらう」という謙虚なスタンスが大事です。
絹谷幸太さんは、この「自然に学ぶ」のスタンスを大切にし、素材の石とコミュニケーションができる得がたい彫刻家です。石に鑿(のみ)を当て、いつも石と会話しながら作品を作っていきます。絹谷さんの石彫は「創知彫刻」と呼ばれ、来場者が彫刻に触って鑑賞できるのが大きな特長です。同じ石でも磨きの違いによって、指先に伝わってくる感触は違います。ぜひ、手でそっと彫刻に触れて、石の声を聞いて、石のたどってきた歴史を感じとってください。

『理性の輝き』

作品『理性の輝き』は“理性は自然に根ざさなければならない”という絹谷さんの熱い想いで造形化され、世界平和の願いがこめられています。世界の平和は微妙なバランスの上に成り立っていること、そして平和を築くには石を積み上げる作業のように地道な努力が不可欠というメッセージがあると思います。

『理性の輝き』には、絹谷さんが選んだ世界各地の個性豊かな10種類の石が使われています。下段から、日本産稲田花崗岩、ナミビア産黄色花崗岩、ドイツ産ジュライエロー石灰岩、イラン産赤色トラバーチン、ギリシャ産白色大理石、アフリカ産黒色花崗岩、イラン産黄色トラバーチン、ブラジル産赤色花崗岩、中国産イエローオニキス、オーストラリア産玄武岩・石灰岩です。台座の白い石は、谷中の寛永寺に使われていた茨城県産の稲田花崗岩です。
これらの石は、大きく二つのグループに分けられます。一つは高温のマグマからできた花崗岩で、もう一つは海や湖でできた石灰岩(トラバーチンやオニキスも石灰岩の仲間)です。

どんな石もそれぞれ固有の歴史があるので、石をよく見るとその素性が分かります。例えば、一番下の稲田花崗岩は、白い花崗岩の中に黒い石が含まれているのが大きな特徴です。この黒い石はもともとはジュラ紀(約2億年から1億4500万年前)の泥岩・砂岩でした。その後、約6000万年前(恐竜が絶滅した中生代白亜紀末の少し後)に、稲田花崗岩のマグマが地下深部から上昇してくる途中で、泥岩のブロックを取り込んでできたものです。花崗岩の熱によってもろい泥岩が硬いホルンフェルスという石に変わっています。泥岩は花崗岩にとっては全く異質なよそ者なので、地質学では、こうしたブロックはゼノリス(Xenolith;xeno=stranger、lith=stone;よそ者の石)と呼ばれています。下から三番目のドイツ産のジュライエローは、約1.6億年前のジュラ紀の海で堆積した石灰岩で、アンモナイトなどの化石が含まれています。一番上のオーストラリア産の石は全10種類の石の中で最も古く、今から約34億年前の海底火山活動でできた玄武岩(緑色)とその間を埋めている石灰岩(白色)です。地球ができてから約10億年後の海の情報が詰まったタイムカプセルです。

以上は石ころ(地質学・自然誌学)を専門とする私の個人的な感想です。来場者の皆さんはそれぞれ異なった知識や興味がありバックグラウンドも違うので、当然、作品に対する感想も違うと思います。皆さんは絹谷さんの「創知彫刻」にどんな感想を持たれましたか?

Kota Kinutani’s Exhibition of Rock Sculptures

At the Tokyo Garden Terrace, Kioicho
(A Critique by Mamoru Adachi, Specially-appointed Professor, Nagoya University)

Traditionally, every object in nature belongs to one of three groups: animal, vegetable or mineral. But in reality the distinction between the three is not so clear-cut because the groups are closely related to each other through the medium of water. Groups of minerals form rocks, and weathering causes these rocks to break down into clay and other particles. If we investigate rocks and clay in detail, we can shed light on the processes at work in nature and this allows us to map out the history of the Earth. In the quest to solve these mysteries, it is important to conduct thorough and detailed observations and at the same time always to remain humble as we reveal the awe-inspiring magnificence of nature.

Mr. Kota Kinutani values learning from nature and he is a unique sculptor who, in a very real sense, feels that he can communicate with the rocks he uses in his work. He is in constant conversation with the rocks as he hits them with his chisel and turns them into magnificent works of art. Kinutani describes his rock sculpture “creation and wisdom sculpture” and is keen for visitors to touch the pieces while viewing them in order that they can continue the rock communication that the sculptor has initiated. Even a single type of rock feels different to the touch when Kinutani has created surfaces of different smoothness and finish. In his words “I invite you to gently touch the sculpture, listen to the voices of the rocks, and trace their history back in time”.

The Light of Reason

Kinutani created the work entitled The Light of Reason with the firm belief that “reason must take root in nature”. From this standpoint, and with his fervent wish for world peace, I believe his message is that world peace is balanced on a tightrope and that it is vital for us to make continual efforts to create and maintain peace, in just the same way as we need to be vigilant and focused while building up piles of rocks that could topple at any time.

As a geologist, I am fascinated by the choice of rock types used in the creation of The Light of Reason. It uses ten varieties of rock from different parts of the world. From the bottom layer upwards these are: Inada granite from Japan, yellow granite from Namibia, Jurassic yellow limestone from Germany, red travertine from Iran, white marble from Greece, black granite from Africa, yellow travertine from Iran, red granite from Brazil, yellow onyx from China, and basalt/ limestone from Australia. The white rock which forms the base of the sculpture is Inada granite from Ibaraki Prefecture, the same rock used in Kanei-ji Temple in the Yanaka area of Tokyo.

These rocks can be brought together in two main groups. The first group is granite, which is an igneous rock that forms after hot magma cools in the Earth, and the second group is limestone, which is a sedimentary rock that forms in the ocean and lakes (travertine and onyx are also related to limestone).

As each rock has its own unique history, we can pinpoint the origin of a given stone when we look at it closely. For example, the Inada granite used in the bottom layer of the sculpture has black stones mixed in with the white granite. These black stones originally came from mudstone which formed during the Jurassic period (roughly 200 million to 145 million years ago). Later on, during the end- Cretaceous period 60 million years ago, the magma that would eventually become the Inada granite rose up from deep within the Earth and engulfed the mudstone blocks. Heat from the magma turned the weak mudstone into hard hornfels metamorphic rock. The mudstone blocks are completely different in nature to the surrounding granite and geologists call such masses xenoliths (xeno means stranger and lith means rock).

Meanwhile, the Jurassic yellow limestone from Germany, which is the third layer from the bottom, is a calcareous rock which formed through sedimentation in the ocean during the Jurassic period roughly 160 million years ago, and it contains ammonites and other fossils. The topmost stone, which is from Australia, is the oldest of all the ten rocks in the sculpture and is composed of basalt created by submarine volcanic activity 3.4 billion years ago (the green section) and limestone which was buried in the basalt during the volcanic eruption (the white section). Thus, this rock is a time capsule filled with information about what the oceans were like roughly one billion years after the formation of the Earth.

But all visitors bring their own knowledge and enthusiasm to the exhibition and those who are receptive to what the rocks have to say will receive their own message. Mine has been a geological message; what will yours be?

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