発掘・植竹邦良 ニッポンの戦後を映す夢想空間（府中市美術館） Uetake Kuniyoshi (Fuchu Art Museum)

過分にも、植竹邦良のことはこの展覧会で初めて知った。

展覧会のチラシに使われていた”最終虚無僧”という作品を目にして、この美術館に足を運ばねば、とすぐに感じた。

植竹邦良の絵を一言で表現するのは、とても難しい。

思いついた言葉を並べると、未来、過去、機械、日本文化、ユーモア、SF、科学、迷宮、カラフル・・・・と、なんともまとまりのない言葉ばかりが並んでしまう。

1928年生まれの植竹にとって、1960年代の安保闘争や学生運動の高揚感とその挫折は、その作品に大きな影響を与えたようだ。

同時代に活動した、中村宏、池田龍雄、尾藤豊、桂川寛らの作品も展示されて、1960年代という時代の雰囲気が会場に溢れていた。

植竹は、幼い頃は赤羽で暮らしていた。また、晩年の作品には溝の口の駅前のビルの建設工事に着想を得た作品があった。

いずれも自分にゆかりの深い場所であったので、何となく親近感を覚えてしまった。 

I learned about Kuniyoshi Uetake for the first time at this exhibition.

When I saw the work "Final Komuso" used in the flyer for the exhibition, I immediately felt that I had to visit the museum.

It is very difficult to express Kuniyoshi Uetake's paintings in one word.

When I line up the words that come to my mind, I end up with words that don't really come together: future, past, machine, Japanese culture, humor, sci-fi, science, labyrinth, colorful.

For Uetake, who was born in 1928, the excitement and frustration of the 1960s security struggles and student movements seems to have had a major impact on his work.

Works by Hiroshi Nakamura, Tatsuo Ikeda, Yutaka Bito, and Hiroshi Katsuragawa, who were active in the same era, were also exhibited, and the atmosphere of the 1960s was overflowing in the venue.

Uetake lived in Akabane when he was young. One of his works in his later years was inspired by the construction of a building in front of Mizonokuchi Station.

All of these places were deeply connected to him, so he somehow felt a sense of familiarity with them.