Lumiere -今宵灯すチョコレート
2006年12月末のとある夜、六本木で
【Lumiere】というパーティーが行われていた。
21時、満席のバーのカウンター。
22時過ぎ、ひといきれで熱気を帯びたコンセプト
ショップの空間。
それぞれに並んでいるのは、直径2センチほどの、
まるいチョコレートたちだ。造形作家である
大畑周平氏が着想から数年かけ、パティシエの協力
も得ながら制作してきた作品（チョコレート）が、
この冬いよいよ完成した。
そのお披露目のパーティーが二カ所で行われたので
ある。
ただ食べるだけなのに、チョコレートを口に含む
パーティー参加者全員が主人公になるという、
ちょっとした一大イベントだ。それもそのはず、
「チョコレートに火を灯し、2〜3分経ってから灯火
したまま食べる」のだから。
炎を見つめて輝く瞳、火のついたチョコレートを口
に運ぶまでの表情、口に含む瞬間、そしてその反応、
全ての動作が注目されるのはなるほど当然といえた。
ひとつひとつ手作りされ、かつデザイン性の高い
プロダクトのような美しさで並ぶこの作品は、
もともと「火を食べる」という作家自身の視点から
生まれたそうだ。試行錯誤を重ねた様々なこだわり
や想い、素材の工夫などを探すのも、このチョコレ
ートを食べるときの楽しみのひとつかもしれない。
その晩の、揺らめく炎のロマンティックな光景、
チョコレートがゆっくりと溶けていく甘い香りと
ドキドキする一瞬は、全ての人の心に期待を灯し、
これから未来に起こるであろうどんな出来事も輝く
に違いないと感じさせるものとなった。
ミウラアヤ
Lumiere -Chocolate that lights up the evening
One evening of the December last year, a party named ‘Lumiere’ was being held.
At 9:00pm, at the bar was already full of guests.
Passing 10:00pm, in the space of the concept-shop had been heated up with the crowd .
What are sitting in each of the lines are round chocolates with their diameters of around 2 cm.
These are the works (chocolates) completed this winter by Shuhei Ohata, a figurative artist, having taken years of work with help of cake-chefs since he got its inspiration. The parties to introduce them were held at 2 places.
It’s for just eating. But it was a kind of great event where the real heroes and heroines were the party guests who put a piece of chocolate in their mouths. You can tell that! As each piece of chocolate is in flames and the guests put one that is still being in flames in their mouths after a few minutes of its being lightened! Their eyes shine in the colors of the flames. Their facial expressions just before bringing a piece of chocolate on fire to their mouths. The very moment it disappears in their mouths. And the reactions they show. It’s quite natural that every single movement they make should be focused on.
Each piece of the chocolate was made by hand to be like a small high quality product with a sophisticated design. It was born from the artist’s viewpoint, “Eating Fire.” Trying to find the traces of trials and errors made by the creator, of his particular ideas and attachments, of his efforts to find proper ingredients and so on can be one factor of what makes us delighted when eating a piece of them.
The romantic vision created by the flickers that evening, the sweet smell of the chocolate melting slowly and the heart beating of the moment one put a piece into the mouth. They made me feel that everything that would happen in the future must be brightened one with the light of some great expectation.
Aya Miura
Traumaris,Tokyo,2006