“Since the day of the great earthquake, something inside of me changed. Maybe not changed exactly, but I could no longer affirm the art that I had, perhaps too easily, believed in. I am sure that the loss and helplessness I felt then was shared by everyone in Japan. I think a lot of Japanese people had to rethink their value systems, and for me that was art. Thinking about the actual victims and feeling this way made me despise art itself to realize I have been making art without ever thinking deeply about it.”
A
complex embodiment of emotion and introspection, the imposing Anymore for Anymore introduces a sculptural depth to Yoshitomo Nara’s signature childlike figures. Viewed from different vantage points, the present sculpture can be seen as two distinct heads; one bearing an open eyed expression, the other, eyes closed and peaceful. Transmitting a profound emotional message, the present work is a test.mes
nt to the depth of Nara’s artistic expression. It was in 2011 that Nara first began to work with clay following the utter devastation of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 and subsequent Fukushima Disaster. Struck by creative inertia, Nara turned to sculpture to express his pain and confusion at the devastation he saw in his hometown of Hirosaki. Seeking a medium he could be more physically engaged with, Nara began to produce monumental sculptures of his pensive, childlike faces. The materiality of this process is on full display in the present work, with the artist’s myriad fingerprints and expressionistic drags felt on the entirety of the ceramic vessel’s surface. At once a creative and physical process, the textural physicality of Anymore for Anymore recalls Giacometi, who similarly saw the process of modelling sculptures as serving a phenomenological purpose, embodying the expression of unspoken emotions.
First exhibited at the artistic Yokohama Museum of Art in 2012, Nara’s large sculptural heads emerged after several months of restlessness. As the "I couldn't make pictures on a blank canvas, but I found I could confront a mass of clay. I wouldn't think about it with my mind. I would just attack it, like a sumo, with my body” (Yoshitomo Nara, quoted in Eden Corkill, “Yoshitomo nara Puts the Heart Back in Art”, Japan t.mes s, 20 July 2012). Vessels of intense emotion shaped by distinctive plays of form and texture, the hand moulded features of Anymore for Anymore convey a profound emotional weight; each dab, drag and imprint leaving behind an impression on the surface, with Nara eventually coaxing the form of a child’s face. Nara’s expressive movements as he shaped curves and grooves can be retraced on the ceramic’s surface, as well as the pressure of his fingers as he formed the the figure's eyelids
and lips. Representing the artist’s most ambitious experiment in representing his most recognisable and beloved protagonist, Anymore for Anymore is an enchanting and joyous test.mes nt to Nara’s idiosyncratic artistic vernacular. Tender, transfixing and epitomising the unparalleled emotionality and captivating sincerity of the artist, the present work illuminates something universally relatable with it’s alternately open and closed expression.
「自從大地震發生的那天起，我內心就出現了一些變化。或者不完全是改變，但我再也不能肯定自己曾經相信的藝術，也許是我以前太容易相信吧。我肯定每個在日本的人都感受到我的失落和無助，我認為很多日本人都要重新思考他們的價值體系，而對我來說那就是藝術。想到真正的受災者，加上這番感受，令我鄙視藝術本身，我才發現自己只是一直創作，沒有深入思考藝術。」
《不 再為不再》尺寸宏巨，體現了複雜的情感和自省，為奈良美智的招牌小孩注入立體的深度。從不同角度觀賞時，本作有兩顆表情各異的頭：一張臉是睜眼的表情，另一張臉則閉著眼，神態祥和。本作傳遞複雜深刻的情感訊息，是表現奈良創作深度的典型例證。2011年，日本遭受東北大地震和隨後的福島核災蹂躪，同一年，奈良開始用陶泥創作。他慣於創作人物畫，運用雕塑表達時也以人為基礎，呈現他在家鄉弘前市目睹災後情況的傷痛和混亂思緒。奈良找到一種他較易接觸和處理的媒介，就開始創作大型陶塑，展示一張張小孩平靜沉思的臉。本作表面凹凸，不加修飾，保留了無數奈良的指紋，以及他手指劃過陶泥、富有表現主義色彩的拖曳痕跡，充分展示他用陶泥塑型的過程。創作《不再為不再》的過程要同時運用創意和身體，粗糙質感令人聯想到阿爾伯托・賈柯梅蒂的作品，他同樣認為塑造形態的過程旨在服膺現象學式的反省，展現不以言詮的微妙情感。
奈良的大型頭像雕塑於2012年在横濱美術館首度展出，他花上數月創作這些雕塑期間，總是焦躁不安。如奈良所言：「我無法在空白畫布上作畫，但我發現自己可以面對一大坨陶泥。我不用去想怎樣做，只要像相撲手一樣，用身體撲向它」（引述奈良美智，載伊登 ・科基爾，〈奈良美智把心放回到藝術〉，《日本時報》，2012年7月20日）。《不再為不再》承載奈良以獨特造型和質感表達的強烈情感，徒手塑型展現出深刻的情感重量；他每次輕拍、拖曳和壓印，都在陶泥留下痕跡，最終形成小孩的五官。奈良塑造曲面和凹槽時富有表現力的動作，以及捏塑眼瞼和嘴唇時手指施加的壓力，在陶瓷雕塑的表面一一呈現。本作代表奈良對他筆下深受喜愛的招牌小孩進行一場最雄心勃勃的實驗，是足證他創作語彙獨出機杼的迷人之作。本作充滿柔情，卻震撼人心，蘊含無比的動人情感，捕捉奈良注入創作的真心誠意，在情感收放交替之間，啟發能夠引起普世共鳴的價值。