Portrait series 肖像画シリーズ

Back in the 80's I used to paint many portraits. I had a tremendous interest in people and in their inner complexity, and I painted people around me, famous people I had adored such as Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa and people I had seen in my dreams. After many years I've begun having this urge to paint portraits again, and when I was thinking about doing a portrait series once more I got a commission offer to do a portrait of Tak Matsumoto, the guitar player of the Japan's renowned rock duo, B'z, by a good friend of mine who wanted to give it to Tak as a gift. Tak had just won the Grammy award this year. "How timely," I thought. I was thrilled to do his portrait, yet the last time I met Tak in person was over 10 years ago. Normally I don't like to use photographs to paint portraits. So I really had to depend on my imagination!

My friend who commissioned me the painting told me about recent Tak- how he really loves his family and his children, and so on. As I heard about this old friend of mine all these images came down on me. The eastern angels and the western angels were floating all over me with lots and lots of colors. The vibrant mountains firmly stood there among the delicate pink clouds... I began painting right away - I did not have to wait for an image at all.

As I painted Tak all those memories about him came back to me. We first met about 25 years ago in New York, and we were so young. He was so charismatic, full of ambition that I was almost intimidated by him. Yet, I knew that there was a very delicate side of him which he never shared with anyone. In this portrait of Tak I wanted to express that very private side of him. The face he would keep very private and personal. Something very vulnerable and fragile... that every human being has. The process was so intriguing. As I painted Tak, I saw my friend who commissioned me this painting and I saw myself in it. We were all in there somehow, as one. I experienced this amazing sense of connection of human beings and the universe... or something larger than life.

８０年代にはよく肖像画を描きました。まわりの友人たちや尊敬した有名人たち（ガンジーやダライラマ法王、マザーテレサなど）。人間や人の奥深い複雑なものに興味を持っていたのです。あれから長い年月が経った今、また肖像画シリーズをしたいなあと思っていた矢先に、ある友人から肖像画の依頼を受けました。B’zのギター松本孝弘氏のポートレイト。松本さんはちょうど今年グラミー賞を受賞したところでした。「なんてタイムリーな、、」と私は思いました。でも、私が最後松本さんと会ったのは、もう１０年程前のこと。通常私は肖像画を描く時、あまり写真を使うのを好みません。なので今回は特に、イマジネーションに頼ったのです！

最近の松本さんがどんな感じなのかを聞きました。家族を大切にしていることなど、温かいイメージが伝わって来て、どんどんイメージが上から降りて来ました。東洋と西洋の天使たちがゆらゆらと飛び交い、様々な色彩が見えます。ゆるぎない山々の間にピンク色の優しい雲。すぐに制作にとりかかりました。アイディアやイメージを待つ必要は全く無しでした。

絵を描いている最中に、昔の思い出がよみがえって来ました。松本さんと最初に会ったのは約２５年前、ニューヨークでのことです。ものすごいカリスマ性と野心の持ち主で、怖いくらいでした。でも、人間なら誰でも持っている、何か傷つきやすくプライベートな部分を感じたのを思い出しました。私は、普段彼が人に見せない、そんな人間的な部分を表現したいと思ったのです。制作のプロセスも不思議でした。描いていると、あの頃の私たち、、松本さん、絵を依頼してくれた友人、私、まわりの友人たち、、の皆の顔が見えて来るのです。人間や宇宙との繋がり、、。人間よりも大きな何か、、を、ひしひしと感じながら完成した作品です。