S100号のキャンバスに描かれた一本の木とそれに寄生するやどり木。一年前に旅した日本で見た岩井綾女さんのその絵が未だに忘れられないと、先日アメリカから注文が入りました。大きすぎてお手元にお届けするまで四苦八苦、２か月もかかってしまいましたが、届いたときの感激も一入、とても喜んでいただけ私たちも嬉しく思いました。

一度見たその絵が忘れられない、心が射抜かれるような絵を描く画家です。

岩井さんは、どこか猫のような目をしています。その目で観る視点は私たちとは少し違う。

自然や、自身を含む「いきもの」の生と死をどこか達観した目で見ているように思えます。

くだんの「やどり木」の宿主である一本の木は、宿り木に精を吸われてはいますが、それでも彼らを宿したまま立っている、そのあるがままの力強さを見つめています。猫についても、視点は「かわいい」というより、自然物である猫自体のプレゼンス、その存在と自己の出会いを見つめているように思えます。

その岩井さんが一番のテーマにしているのが「風」です。

大地から水と精を吸って力強く生きる緑とそこを駆け抜けるうわ風、時にはひとつの役割を終えようとしている枯野に吹きすさぶ風。そしてまた時には、菜の花のわずかな揺らぎに感じる温かい風。

高校の頃、河原の散歩中に見た、蒼く茂った草むらに風が吹き抜けていく光景に感動し、その瞬間「画家になりたい」と強く思ったというエピソードを聞いて私は鳥肌が立ちました。

岩井さんの作品は自然主義的リアリズムと彼女の熱い想いが、絶妙なバランスで混ぜ合わさった稀有なものだと言ってもよいのではないでしょうか。

（岡村）

A tree and a parasitic mistletoe on an S100 canvas. I received an order from the U.S. for a painting by Ayame Iwai that she had seen in Japan a year ago and still could not forget. The painting was so large that it took us two months to deliver it, but we were thrilled and delighted when it arrived.

We were very happy to receive the order, and we were also delighted when we received it.

Mr. Iwai has eyes like a cat. The viewpoint he sees with those eyes is a little different from ours.

He seems to have a somewhat mature view of nature and the life and death of "living things," including himself.

The tree that is the host of the mistletoe has been sucked by the mistletoe, but it is still standing with the spirit of the mistletoe in it, and we see its strength as it is. With cats, too, the viewpoint is not "cute," but rather the presence of the cat itself as a natural object, the encounter between the cat's existence and itself.

The most important theme for Mr. Iwai is "wind.

The wind that blows through the greenery, which is alive with water and energy from the earth, and the wind that blows through the greenery, or sometimes the wind that blows in the withering field that is about to finish its role. And sometimes it is a warm breeze felt in the slight swaying of the rape blossoms.

I got goosebumps when I heard the story of how he was moved by the sight of the wind blowing through the thickly overgrown grass he saw while walking along the riverbank in high school, and how he strongly felt at that moment that he wanted to become a painter.

I think it is fair to say that Ms. Iwai's works are a rare mixture of naturalistic realism and her passionate thoughts in a perfect balance.

(Okamura)