熱いアスファルトにねころがるのも好きだったけれど / I Also liked Lying Down on the Hot Pavement
Year: 2018
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 227.8 x 181.8 cm (89 3/4 x 51 5/8 in.)
Acquired from Tomio Koyama Gallery, 2022
This is a typical artwork of Kudo – the entire composition is formed by an intricate depiction of animals, plants, and human beings. In the center of the painting, surrounded by a cluster of large plants, human beings and animals are being depicted in a composition resembling an isosceles triangle. A girl lying with a cat, a boy sleeping next to a lion, a girl lying languidly on a daybed, a leopard, and a girl standing confidently in the back; all created a mysterious space evoking a pyramid-like hierarchy structure rather than traditional depth. The plants with branches and leaves spreading from the invisible area at the bottom part of the work, intentionally create an ambiguity and make the audience wonder whether the plant is in the foreground or in the lower part of the painting. As the title suggests, the grayish blue background which presumably represents asphalt ground, seems to be visible from the sky, creating an illusion of the motifs floating in the air. While the animals and figures occasionally gazed out, it is obvious that the motifs are facing the audience, intensifying the frontal aspect rather than the depth. The sheer presence of the person subtly fleeing on the left shoulder is depicted in the upper left corner of the work, which ingeniously corresponds with the lively standing figure in the middle of the work. The insignificant plants, which were supposedly tiny weeds, are portrayed as huge prickly pear cactus. Such an absurd and bewildering yet intriguing world perhaps belongs to the dream of the lounging figure.
