ケント紙に鉛筆, 257mm × 364mm, 2002年 ／ Pencil on paper, 257mm × 364mm, 2002.

ノーチラス号。いうまでもなく、ジュール・ベルヌの小説『海底2万マイル』に登場する潜水艦です。このかたちはウォルト・ディズニーが1954年に公開した映画版の『海底2万マイル』にでてきたもので、私はこの映画をこどものころに見て以来、ノーチラス号というとこの姿しかありえないくらいにぴったりと焼きついています。もとの小説は1870年に発表されていますが……まさに19世紀。このふしぎな世紀の中で、人類文明はそれまでになかった高みと深みに到達し……同時に、影の部分もまた色濃く現われたのでした。19世紀というと、ふつうは1801年から1900年の100年間をさしますが、私は、1750年（J.S.バッハの死）から1960年（第二次世界大戦の戦後処理がほぼ終わった時点）までの約200年間を「拡大版19世紀」と考えると、いろいろな点でわかりやすいのではないかと感じます。この200年間に、人類文明のほぼすべては出つくし……そして、これからその「後始末」がはじまるのかもしれません。ノーチラス号のふしぎな姿は、私には、なぜか人類文明の象徴のようにも思えます。＜リンク＞なお、画面に書いてある漢字２文字は「脳」と「散」です。

The Nautilus is the fictional submarine in Jules Verne's novels "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". But this figure(above) was shown in the film that was produced by Walt Disney in 1954. I've seen this film In the days of a child, and the impression of the movie was too strong, so, speaking of Nautilus, only this figure is possible for me. The original novel by Jules Verne was written in 1870, it was literature itself of the 19th century definitely. In this mysterious century, the civilization of the human arrived at a high place and the depth which did not arrive till then, however, the part of the shadow too, appeared deeply at the same time. Speaking of the 19th century, it is usually understood that is 100 years from 1801 through 1900, however, I want to submit "the extended 19th century" here. This "extended 19th century", I mean approximately 200 years, from 1750 (dead age of Johann Sebastian Bach) to 1960 (the age that the postwar processing of the World War II was almost over). If we think so, it become easy to understand various things, maybe. For these 200 years, all light of the human civilization and all shadows of that were given. And the "settlement" may begin from now on. The mysterious figure of the nautilus, is the symbol of the human civilization itself likely, for me. ＜LINK＞In addition, kanji two characters that are written on a screen are "脳-brain" and " 散-scatter". In Japanese, kanji "脳" is pronounced "nau", and kanji "散" is pronounced "tilus". So, "脳"＋"散" = "Nautilus".