Go Ayano x Kazumi Kurigami Artbook: Portrait

[Machine Translation] 545 photographs, 560 pages in total! An unprecedented collection of portraits on an overwhelming scale! Actor Tsuyoshi Ayano ( 40 ) had longed for an extreme expression with Japan's top photographer Kazumi Kurigami ( 86 ). To the exclusion of all else, he dared to shoot once a month in the same studio and in the same position, in an unprecedentedly stoic manner. The film was shot in the same studio and in the same position once a month, eliminating everything, and over the course of eight months, from early spring to midwinter, the film beautifully captures the ever-changing face of a man. ( Go Ayano ) "Returning to the starting point of creation" When I first visited Mr. Kurigami's studio, I came across a portrait of a man. The portrait was not a "picture" but just "existed" there. I had no idea when it was taken. I had no idea when the picture was taken, because there was no time or era in the picture. It reminded me of a saying. When I started as an actor, I was told, "Don't take the picture. Just be there. I remembered that this was the starting point of my own creation. I learned to express myself from a place where there was no story and no fiction. By throwing myself into the world of portraiture, I was able to return to my starting point. The days of dueling with Ms. Kurigami, in the name of challenge, taught me once again the importance of confronting the work, myself, and others. ( Kazumi Kurigami ) "The overwhelming weight of his face and the exploration of the whole of Tsuyoshi Ayano through his face" He asked me to film him as he was in his 30s, up to the age of 40. So, once a month, I eliminated any scene and continued to photograph only his face as if I was making a fixed-point observation. There were times when he would get out of his car and come into the studio wearing a coat, put on a mask, and just stand in front of the camera. Both his face and body changed rapidly through the roles he played at the time and through his personal life, and the process of change was interesting. It was interesting to see how much I could bring out the whole person by concentrating only on the face, and how much depth I could bring in. In a way, it was also an experiment. Once during a shoot, I suddenly burst into tears. I reacted to that and kept quietly releasing the shutter. Tsuyoshi Ayano as a human being with emotional ups and downs like that. I don't know or hear why he cried, of course. But it was very impressive.

写真総点数545枚、全560頁! 前代未聞、圧倒的なスケールの肖像作品集! 俳優・綾野剛(40)が切望した、日本最高峰の写真家・操上和美(86)との極限表現。全てのものを排除するように、毎月一度、同じスタジオ、同じポジションでの、これまで例を見ないストイックな撮影を敢行。春先から真冬まで、火花を散らすような濃密な8ヵ月を経て、変化し続ける男の顔を見事に収めました。【綾野剛】 「創作の原点に立ち返る」操上さんのスタジオに初めてお邪魔した時、とある男性の写真に出会ったんです。その肖像写真はなんというか〝写っている″のではなく、ただそこに〝存在″していました。そしていつ撮られた写真なのか全く分からなかったんです。なぜなら時間が、時代が写っていなかったんです。ふとある言葉を思い出しました。役者を始めた頃「写るのではない。ただそこに居ればいい」。僕自身の創作の原点だったと思い出しました。物語もなくフィクションも存在しない削がれたところから表現を学んでいく。ポートレートという世界に身を投じることによって原点に立ち返れました。操上さんとの挑戦という名の決闘の日々は、作品と自身と他者と向き合うことの大切さを改めて教えて頂きました。【操上和美】 「圧倒的な顔の重量感、その顔を通して綾野剛の全体を探る」30代最後の、40歳までの今の自分を撮ってほしい、と言うことでした。そこで1ヵ月に一度、情景も何も排除して、定点観測のように顔だけを撮り続けた。コートを着た彼が車から降りてスタジオに入ってきて、マスクを着けた、そのままスッとカメラの前に立つ、というようなこともあった。その時々の役柄や、私生活を通じて顔も身体もどんどん変化する、その変化のプロセスが面白い。顔だけに集中することで、どれだけ全体を出せるか、深みに入れるか。ある種、実験的でもありました。撮影中に突然、涙を流したことがありました。私はそれに反応して、静かにシャッターを切り続けました。そういう風に感情の起伏がある人間としての綾野剛。なぜ泣いたかとか、もちろん知りませんし聞きません。しかし、とても印象深かった。