Existence * '15-9-Dream-L, Existence * '15-9-Dream-R
existence＊’15-9-mu（夢）-L、existence＊’15-9-mu（夢）-R
- Birth Year
- 1945
- Death Year
- -
- Date
- 2015
- Technique, Material, Format
- color on paper, pair of four-panel folding screens
- Dimension
- each 171.0 x 341.5 cm
- Donor name
- Mr. Nakajima Chinami
- Category
- Nihonga (Japanese-style Painting)
- Inventory Number
- 2016-JP-010
Ever since he was influenced as a student by the political unrest surrounding the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty and the Vietnam War, Nakajima Chinami has explored the meaning of human existence. In the 1970s he started making depictions of figures that are rooted in the Buddhist view of life and death. In this, his Existence series, such figures are combined with deconstructed hieroglyphs (in this case, meaning “dream”). He was inspired by the fact that humans first created hieroglyphs to record their activities. The work’s “L” (left) screen can be interpreted as night and the “R” (right) screen day. What kind of dreams are these people (who are perhaps the same person, or just similar) having, and where do they go when they wake up? To live is to always be thinking about how we humans switch back and forth between dreams and reality, and such thoughts are depicted here.
(UCHIYAMA Junko)