抄録
From the late 1960s, photograph, video, magazine, and Xerox came to be used in the
realm of contemporary art. Under the circumstances, traditional value of originality
of artworks will be dissolved as long as the original is infinitely copied in theory. This
paper provides a new interpretation of Jiro Takamatsu’s Japanese Letters and English
Words, on the basis of the issue of original and copy of artworks in the era of duplicate
media.
In Japanese Letters “ko-no-nana-tsu-no-mo-ji” is written. In English Words “THESE
THREE WORDS” is written. These two are print works by offset lithography. Each work
has 100 editions and each of those original plates are manipulated by Xerox.
First, I survey preceding interpretations of these works, on the basis of those
formal features. Second, I analyze them. Finally, this paper concludes as follows:
Japanese Letters and English Words urge the beholder to have an individual or unique
relationship although every edition has almost same appearance by duplicate media
of print. That Takamatsu uses artform of print and these works have such structures
implies that he has the awareness of issue that the individual or unique relationship of
human and things is inhibited in the era of duplicate media.
