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高田治ステイトメント

仮面ライダー、キカイダー、ドラゴンボールなどのフィギュアが幼い頃から好きで、

その事が、現在の人体像の制作の根本にあるのかもしれない。

現在の制作における自分のフォーカスは、人の肉体、骨の構造、筋肉の動きにあり、

人形ではなく、人間を表限したいと思っている。

そして自分が表現している人体像は、その像が男性であれ、女性であれ、

全て自分自身だ。言うならば、それらは僕の中では“OSAMU MAN”であり“OSAMU WOMAN”である。

仏師である西村公泉先生に教えを受け、人間の筋肉が躍動するような彫像を目の当たりにし、

自分の力不足を感じると同時に、強いインスピレーションを与えて頂いている。

先生からのアドヴァイスは“骨を作れ”であり、それを念頭においてまず鉄のワイヤーで

骨組みをつくり金属で溶接したり、あるいは粘土を使い、そこに肉をつけていく。

身体の中をエネルギーが動いていくイメージを持ち、その瞬間に現れる自分の感覚で肉付けの作業を行う。

その過程において、偶然性は否定するものではなく、必然だと受け止め、制作している。

自分の感覚へ信頼があるのだろう。

自分の作品には、腕や脚が欠落しているもの、又は胴の一部に空洞があったりするものが

多々あるのだが、これはその時にそれらの部位が必要ではないと自分が感じた結果である。

多分、自分も何かが欠落していて、その欠落した人体を心地良く感じているのかもしれない。

だから、結果として制作すれば制作するほど、自分の欠落と対峙することになる。

そして、自分の欠落を知れば知るほど、理想とする形に程遠い自分を知り、

あきらめの様な気持ちとともに、開き直った自由のようなものを手に入れられたような気がする。

I have loved Japanese anime figures since I was a child, and this has been my inspiration for creating today's three-dimensional human images. Some of the Japanese anime figures are influenced by Buddhist statues whose physical expression I was strongly attracted to. Naturally, my focus in my three-dimensional works was on the expression of the human body, especially the bone structure and muscle movement. I do not see what I create as a doll, but as a human. Therefore, all the statues I create either as a male or female body, they all reflect who I am. Even when I have a model for my piece, the boundary between me and the object is not drawn clearly. This means that I can be him/her and vice versa. In other words, all my works are "OSAMU MAN" and "OSAMU WOMAN" to me.

I have looked up to Mr. Nishimura Kosen, who is an innovative sculptor of Buddhist statues, as my mentor. When I see a statue chiseled by him, I am always impressed by the movement of its energetic muscles and at the same time, I feel as if I have to face my skill inadequacy in front of his overwhelming artistic and practical skills. The advice from my teacher, which I always keep in mind, is "make the bones first". Therefore, I usually start by making a steel skeleton of the human body for my works. Nevertheless, my expression is completely different from that of Mr. Nishimura’s statues; I do not chisel, but I make pieces of muscle using different materials such as clay, stainless-steel, or iron in order to add physical dynamism to the skeleton. I create many pieces of muscles without deciding which piece goes where. I just make many of them and add them to the skeleton instinctively, keeping the image of the energy that goes around the body I am making. In this process, I just trust my five senses and accept that all things happen as inevitable occurrences. The colors I use for my works are mainly based on the colors of the suits worn by the Japanese Super Sentai series heroes. In particular, I often use red and blue which depict contrasting concepts: good and bad, strong and weak, positive and negative, and so on.

Many of my works have missing arms or legs, or a hollow part at the torso, and this is the result of a feeling I had that I did not need those parts in the process. Probably, I felt comfortable with those bodies missing something since I know I am not a perfect man myself. Consequently, the more I create them, the more I confront my imperfections, and the more I know about my deficiencies, the more I realize of how far I am from the ideal. Ironically, I can gain a kind of open freedom to recognize this fact with a feeling of giving up to some extent.

Conclusively, my creative activity may be just a barren struggle to pursue personal perfection, even if this is impossible, by looking at my works which embody an imperfect self.