†carp

†carp, 2019
72.8×106 cm / 28.6×41.7 in
Archival Giclee Print

撮影から完成まで9日間、僕の制作では最も短期間で完成した写真。 そんな短期間で仕上がったはもう長いこと主題として考えていた“デカダンス”の光景であったからである。ここでいう“デカダンス”とはユイスマンスやアルトーの描いたそれであることは明記しておきたい。日本の文化、風土におけるデカダンスの「庭」を描くことができないかと思案していた。豪奢な混沌、行き過ぎた成熟、人工の自然、活き活きとしたグロテスク... そんな庭の光景を象徴するものを探していた。 それがある撮影の為に出かけた寺の庭にあった。その瞬間、一気に観念が具体化した。悠然と泳ぐ人工の鯉（錦鯉）の群れ、庭園という閉じた世界の中で、おそらくはもう人の世界には僅かな残滓を留めるのみとなった“デカダンス”がこの池の主に脈々と受け継がれていた。

2019.03.16撮影

丹野徹 | 靖山画廊

This piece took nine days from initial photography to completion, among the shortest process times of any of my artworks.
The reason that it was completed so quickly is that it reflects a subject matter that I had been pondering for a long period of time – namely, decadence. I want to note that the “decadence” indicated here is that depicted by Joris-Karl Huysmans1 and Antonin Artaud .2 I had been questioning in my mind whether it would be possible to portray a Japanese garden as similarly decadent, according to the climate of Japanese culture. Luxuriously chaotic, over-cultivated, artificially natural, vividly grotesque… I had been searching for a garden that could symbolize these characteristics.
I finally found it in the garden of a certain temple that I visited for a photo shoot. At that moment, the concept for this piece came together in an instant. With its school of domestically bred koi (cultured carp) swimming calmly in the pond, the owner of the garden seemed to have retained within that closed world the heartbeat of a certain “decadence,” of which only the faintest traces remained otherwise within the human world.

1 Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907)
Known primarily for his 1884 novel À rebours, French novelist and art critic. Joris-Karl Huysmans' writing on themes of excess and superficiality in society is regarded as some of the defining literary work of the Decadent movement during the late 19th century.

2 Antonin Artaud (1896-1948)
A French dramatist, actor, and poet, Antonin Artaud is today considered one of the most influential figures on twentieth-century avant-garde theater in Europe and modern drama.