*English CV follows.

栗原針山

“MOKOMOKO・BORDER”（モコモコ・ボーダー）

今日、SNSやAIの発達によって世界規模で瞬時に人が繋がれるようになりボーダーレス化が加速度的に進んできた。便利で良いことではある。しかし人の心は果たしてそこに追いついているのだろうか。例えばデマやフェイクニュースに対し吟味することなく乗っかり、あっという間に拡散してしまうこともある。そしてそれが時には誰かを自殺に追い込んだり命を左右することも増えている。本来踏みとどまるべきボーダーまで失われつつあるのだ。 ボーダーというと国境をイメージする人も多いかと思うが、ここで取り上げたいのは特に個々人の内面におけるボーダーである。だがそれは非常に複雑で繊細なものだ。マイナスに作用すれば人種差別などにもつながりかねない。だからこそ、今の時代に求められているのは短絡的な差別化としてのボーダーではなく、十分な葛藤の先にあるプラスの産物としてのボーダーではないだろうか。それは人間性の希薄化に歯止めをかけることにもなり、むしろ互いを表面的にではなく真に尊重しあえることにもつながるはずだ。

具体的に言えば、いったん立ち止まり相対する問題に葛藤を重ね、そのギリギリのボーダーに解決の糸口である煌めきを見出していくことだ。このアプローチを私はMOKOMOKO・BORDER（モコモコ・ボーダー）と称して書で表現している。葛藤の対立対象は自己の内面における二面性、個と全体性、あるいは生と死といった概念や普遍的なテーマにも及ぶ。“MOKOMOKO”（モコモコ）とは日本語で「次々と周囲より盛り上がった部分が生じるさま」を指す。1℃単位の温度調整や熟成などの独自の墨の作り方によって書する文字の一点一画をモコモコと滲ませ、そこに葛藤をはじめとした感情を投影する。文字そのものが元々もつ意味と相まって命が吹き込まれていく。そして線同士がモコモコとぶつかりせめぎ合った末、その狭間に実に微かな、だが確かなるボーダーが生まれ光を醸し出すのだ。それは結果としての余白やボーダーにこそ価値が生まれることの象徴でもある。このモコモコとした墨は今まさに膨らみつつあるように見えるので、生々しい永続性をもつことができるようになる。 人間は元来、葛藤する生き物であり切実に出口を探そうとする。その過程がシビアであればあるほどそこに残るボーダーはより実体をもった生きる煌めきとなり、本質的な存在意義を取り戻すことになる。そう、私の提唱するボーダーとは、誰もが抱える葛藤や苦悩の先にやがて訪れる確固たる一筋の救いの光であり明日を切り拓くものなのだ。

コロナ禍において図らずも閉ざされ足元を見つめ直すことの一端を感じる人も多かったかと思う。ポストコロナ時代に向け、混沌とした葛藤の先のボーダーの光をいかに見出していくのか、観る人がそれぞれの人生を重ねながら感じてもらえたら幸いである。


SHINZAN KURIHARA

1984-/M/Born in Tokyo, Based in Tokyo and Shizuoka

Solo Exhibitions
2020 Shinzan Kurihara Solo Exhibition at STRIPED HOUSE GALLERY (Tokyo, Japan)
2019 Shinzan Kurihara Solo Exhibition at STRIPED HOUSE GALLERY (Tokyo, Japan)
2019 Shinzan Kurihara Solo Exhibition at gallery G (Hiroshima, Japan)
2018 Shinzan Kurihara Solo Exhibition at STRIPED HOUSE GALLERY (Tokyo, Japan)

Art Fairs
2020 LA Art Show

MOKOMOKO - BORDER

Today, the evolution of social networking sites and AI has enabled people to instantly connect worldwide, and has led to an accelerating development of borderlessness. This is something good and useful. However, are the human minds keeping up with this development? For example, there are times when false rumors and fake news spread in an instant, without its information being looked into more precisely to see if it is trustworthy. At times, this has been life-threatening, or have even driven some people to take their own lives. Borders within situations where we should control ourselves are also starting to vanish.

When we say border, most people would probably have an image of national borders, but what I wish to focus on in particular is the border that exists within an individual’s inner self. However, this is something extremely complex and sensitive. Its negative affect may lead to discrimination. Therefore, what is perhaps needed in modern society is not a border merely for differentiation, but instead, a border that is created as a positive result from plenty of conflicts. While this will help to stop the dilution of human nature, it should also help us to show true respect for one another.

Precisely speaking, this is a process of taking a step back to experience several conflicts through issues that are contrary to each other, and then searching for the light that serves as a clue to the solution within the verge of its border. I have expressed this through my “Sho” (Japanese calligraphy) and have named this approach as MOKOMOKO - BORDER. The opposition within the conflict may extend to the dual nature of one’s inner self, individuality and universality, or, a universal theme of life and death. In Japanese, MOKOMOKO describes “the state of lumps forming one after another from its surroundings”. Through a distinctive way of creating sumi ink, such as the adjustment of the sumi ink’s temperature by a unit of 1 degree and the aging of the rubbed sumi ink, I have blurred the sumi inks in some parts of the word in my “Sho” to create such lumps, in order to project various emotions including conflict. The word, along with its original meaning, is brought to life. Then, as the MOKOMOKO lines clashes and conflicts with each other, a faint but strong border is created between them, producing light. This also signifies that spaces and borders as a result of such conflicts, are what creates values. The MOKOMOKO sumi ink seems as if it is spreading and getting bigger at this very moment, enabling it to keep its raw permanency.

Conflicts are originally a part of human nature, and we strive to search for the exit. The more severe this process is, the more the border that is left from it becomes a substantial, living glimmer of light, allowing us to regain the fundamental meaning of our existence. Indeed, the border which I propose is the strong light of salvation that will eventually appear, and also something that will open the way to the future from the conflicts and struggles that everybody has inside themselves.

Through an unexpected closure caused by the COVID-19, I believe that many of us were given the opportunity to face ourselves. Moving towards the post COVID-19 era, I hope that viewers will identify their own life with my works, while thinking how to seek for the light of border from beyond the chaotic conflict.