大坂寛
Venus Vegetal
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1990 - 1993
There is in Osaka Hiroshi's nude work a distinctive identity.In many instances,there is no distinction between the body of his models and their surroundings.
The body melts with the background of the picture, its outlines are missing as if it had been fluidified.
Sometimes the bodies of his subjects seem covered with a thin layer of water, giving the appearance of a semi-transparent membrane. In either case, the element…of yielding, soft flesh melted with its surrounding always obsessively appears in his work.
The artist himself frequently uses words such as " union, " " fusion ", and " androgyny " when commenting on his work.
Looking at his work, one notices element in his work that differ from the norm:components in his composition melt together and seem to unify.
For example, the " unification" sensation present in Osaka's " Vegetal " series, highlighting, once again makes an appearance in his " Venus " series.
Ther seem to be the possibility of mutual exchange between the female figure and the plants -- what could be termed an equation between Woman and Flora.
In the world of Osaka's work,the boundaries between the artist and his subjects, male and female, man and other living things, and living things and objects ambiguously dissolve into each other.
One could say that his ability to embrace without limitation the sensation of fusion is an aspect of a thoroughly Eastem sensibility.
Looking at Osaka's pictures, one is tempted to see in them the birth of Eastem Venus, based on aesthetic standards entirely different from Western tradition.
Regardless of how risque his pictures of posed nudes may be, they don't, run to aggressive eroticism; rather,they emanate a kind of satisfaction found in a serenity of acceptance.
This is probably because the pictures demonstrate his Easterm aesthetics and appreciation for nature.
Osaka has preserved his vision since he began photographing nudes in that dark forest (symbolic of a mother's womb), where his artistic consciousness was liberated in the shadows.
Using needs as his means, Osaka continues his attempts to unify his theme with the symbolic mother tourist.
Iizawa Kohtaro (Photo Critic)
( Selfmade camera , Nikkor-w 150mm f5.6 , Poraloid 665 )
大坂寛が作り上げてきたヌードには際立った特徴がある。多くの場合、肉体とその周囲の環境との間には区切りがない。肉体は背景に溶け込み、輪郭を失って一種の流動体と化している。 また水の層のようなものが肉体の上を覆い、半透明の膜に隔てられるように見える場合もある。この手応えのない、ぐにゃぐにゃと溶解していく肉体は、まるで強迫観念のように彼のヌードに常に出現してくる。 彼はよく自分の作品に対して「融合」「結合」、あるいは「両性具有」といった比喩を用いて語る事がある。たしかに彼のヌードを見ていると幾つかの異質な要素が結びつけられ、溶け合い、一体化しているように感じられる。
その時々惑い悩みながら撮り続け、自分の根底にある可能性を発見しようと試みた。私とモデルと作品はSyzygyなのである…
この《Venus》のシリーズでは、植物を主題とする《Vegetal》のシリーズとの融合の感覚が生じている。女性の肉体と植物とは相互交換が可能であり、時には一体化して“女性=植物”とすら言えそうな奇妙な形態を作り上げている。 大坂の作品世界では、このように自己と他者、男性と女性、人間と他の生物、さらに生物と物質との境目すら曖昧に溶解していくのである。このような、あらゆるものが一つに解け合う無限抱擁的な感覚は、きわめて東洋的なものであり、 これまでの西洋的な美意識とは異なった尺度によって生み出された。東洋の《ヴィーナス》が誕生しつつあるとの誘惑にかられる。攻撃的なエロチシズムに走らずどこか受容的な安らぎに満ちているのも、彼の中に東洋的な肉体感、 自然観が息づいているからだろう。ほの暗い森の奥（それは母親の胎内を思わせる）で、じっとうずくまり、闇の中に意識を解き放っていくような感覚を、このシリーズでもずっと保ち続けてきた。ヌードという手段を通じて、 母なる森と一体化することこそ、彼が求め続けているものなのである。