彫刻家、親松英治が50年をかけて取り組んだ木彫のマリア像は全長10メートルにも及ぶ。35歳の時に人生をかけて取り組めるものを、という思いから作り始めた彫刻がもうすぐ完成ということでアトリエを訪問。行き先なんて想定せず、作り上げた彫刻の設置先が決まろうとしていた。
「親松英治：50年越しのマリア」(Japanese Only): https://materiaprima.site/eiji-oyamatsu/
Eiji Oyamatsu, sculptor of 81 years old (in 2015) is about to finish his lifelong works – the wooden sculpture of Virgin Mary. Being Catholic himself, he had determined to make the works of his life time when he was a young sculptor of 35 years old. Ever since, Oyamatsu had spent time and resource to buy the piece of wood to complete this sculpture without knowing where to install after completed.
As his sculpture grew up to almost 10 meters in height, he moved his studio next to the Monastery in Kanagawa, where Sisters made effort over years and years to find out where to install the work. And they finally found the place – Catholics Memorial in South Shimabara city in Nagasaki prefecture. It was the historical site where many Catholics were killed after the fight with Japanese generals to ban the Christianity back in 16thcentury. As a gift of time, Oyamatsu gave final touch to the sculpture waiting for the time to install the work.
(A few months after visiting his studio, sad news came in – due to the political scandal of South Shimabara city, the project to install Virgin Mary by Oyamatsu was suspended. Up until now, there is no update about how this project has developed.)