奥伝三郎はガラスで、私は土で
それぞれの素材で、同じテーマで ファインアートを目指しました。彼は居なくなったけど彼の作品は残っていて
彼と二人で建てた工房は「せいざん」といい、
人生の墓場のような意味を持っていて、
私たちの行きつく場所、・・です。
※「せいざん」は幕末長州藩僧侶釈月性が読んだ漢詩
から。
男児立志出郷関
学若無成不復還
埋骨豈期墳墓地
人間到處有青山
I first learned of Okudensaburō, an artist from Kagoshima known for his glass works and active in the United States, when I visited the home of Furukawa Hirohisa—in Aira City—who works in contemporary ceramics.
There, I came face to face with a “fish bone” made of glass, seemingly as tall as a person.
I intuitively sensed it was a “skull” that had lost its life and been exposed to wind and rain.
It was a form stripped down to its essence.
Yet, from the softness unique to glass and the way it held light,
one could also feel a longing for life. It seemed to pose a philosophical question.
Born in 1949 in Kasari Town, Okudensaburo encountered art at Konan High School in Kagoshima City.
Unable to advance to art university,
he entered the Tokyo Glass Art Institute at age 35.
Invited by American artist Stephen Tobin, whom he studied under there,
he went to the United States and quickly gained recognition.
In the 1990s, he held a homecoming solo exhibition, “BONES,”
at Reimeikan in Kagoshima City.
His works are also held in the collection of Kirishima Art Forest.
His wife passed away in the United States in March.
He called weathered wood found in nature, like “sharekoube” (skulls), “jareki” (playful wood).
Mr. Furukawa, who had a deep friendship with him even before his move to the U.S.,
said the image of “fish bones” came from the sight of standing dead trees he saw at Kagoshima's Shiroyama and from him.
I wish for an opportunity to present his body of work, evoking a strong will to live and associations with reincarnation, to the world in his hometown.
