村上三郎／Murakami Saburo

村上三郎は、「具体美術協会」の中心メンバーとして活躍した作家です。木枠に貼った紙を体当たりで突き破る「紙破り」のパフォーマンスは、彼の代名詞であるとともに、初期の「具体美術協会」に顕著だったアクションの傾向を象徴しています。

兵庫県神戸市に生まれた村上は、1948年に関西学院大学哲学科を卒業後、同大学院で美学を学びました。1949年より芦屋の画家、伊藤継郎（つぐろう）に師事し、「村上彦」の名前で新制作協会展に抽象画を出品するようになります。1952年に、同展で出会った白髪一雄、田中敦子、金山明とともに「0会」を結成し、彼らと切磋琢磨しながら新しい芸術を模索しました。その活動の中で吉原治良と出会い、1955年には上記のメンバーとともに「具体美術協会」に加入します。1972年に同グループが解散した後も創作を続け、過去のパフォーマンスの再演にも取り組みました。

村上の制作は、先に挙げた「紙破り」のほか、時計を入れた木箱や、空気を封じこめたガラスの箱などの立体作品、木枠のみをぶらさげ、そこに見える風景を作品とする【あらゆる風景】、時間とともに剥落していく絵画など多岐にわたりました。これらの作品に共通しているのは、時間と空間、偶然性と必然性、精神と物質という、村上が考え続けてきたテーマが具現化されている点です。今まさに流れている時間や起こっている出来事が作品に織りこまれることで、鑑賞者の五感に新鮮な感動がもたらされるのです。

Murakami Saburo was an active artist who played a central role in the “Gutai Art Association”. He was best known for his paper-breaking performances, it was “kami-yaburi,” where he energetically burst through kraft paper stretched on large wooden frames. These performances not only became his signature but also symbolized the prominent action-oriented tendencies of the early Gutai Art Association.

He was born in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. After graduating from the Philosophy Department of Kwansei Gakuin University in 1948, he studied at the Graduate School of Aesthetics, Kwansei Gakuin University. From 1949, under the guidance of painter Ito Tsuguro in Ashiya, he began exhibiting abstract paintings under the name “Hiko Murakami” at the Shin-Seisaku Kyokai (New Creation Association) Exhibition. In 1952, he co-founded the “Zero Kai (Zero Group)” with Kazuo Shiraga, Atsuko Tanaka, and Akira Kanayama, whom he met at the same exhibition. They explored new forms of art while inspiring and challenging each other. During this period, he met Jiro Yoshihara and joined the “Gutai Art Association” in 1955, along with the aforementioned members. Even after the group disbanded in 1972, he continued his creative pursuits and also revisited past performances.

His artistic works encompassed a wide range of mediums, including the aforementioned “kami-yaburi (paper-breaking)” technique, as well as three-dimensional pieces such as wooden boxes containing clocks or glass boxes enclosing trapped air. He also created “arayuru fuukei (All Landscapes)”, where only a wooden frame was suspended, incorporating the visible scenery as part of the artwork. Furthermore, his repertoire included paintings that gradually peeled off over time. What these works had in common was the embodiment of themes that he had been contemplating, such as time and space, chance and necessity, and mind and matter. The current flow of time and the events happening at this very moment were woven into the artwork, impressing a fresh sense of awe upon the viewer’s five senses.