Generally speaking, harmony and group solidarity are said to be important characteristics of Japanese people but the artist, Taro Okamoto(1911-1996）lived the whole life completely in a different way. He had rebel spirit and was always defiant of authority and traditional artistic value. He denied typical Japanese aesthetic sense like austerity, antiquity and elegance. In contrast to that, he found different type of artistic merit in flame-shaped earthen vessels in Jomon Period in Japan(ca.14,000-ca.300B.C.) and highly praised it, saying that it shows vividness, unenlightened vitality.     
 The impression and impact from Jomon artifacts inspired him to be confident about his creating style. From 1960's to 1970's, he was so active and energetic that two masterpieces are well known and open to the public.

From the top to the bottom, those are entitled in order to Jomon man, Tower of the Sun and Myth of Tomorrow. Tower of the Sun and Myth of Tomorrow were being created almost at the same time(1968-1970). The former one is the symbolic centerpiece for the Japan World Exposition held in Osaka in 1970 which is really 70m tall. The latter one was commissioned by a hotel owner in Mexico City but this painting went missing shortly after bankruptcy of the hotel. In 2003, that was found in Mexico City luckily and retuned to Japan. Since 2008, that masterpiece has been exhibited inside a railway station building like in the photo. I respect Mr. Taro Okamoto because his belief was that artistic works have to belong to general public so those have to be displayed and seen not through glasses but directly even if there could be a risk that anyone might touch and damage it.         
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　On August 18, 2024