“Okay, this is more a wild guess than a theory… I’m not really the artistically sensitive type, you know,” I began.
Though I’m not the athletic type, either.
So what am I?
I wouldn’t exactly call stargazing my specialty─I guess if I had to choose something, it would be eyesight?
Yes. Eyesight is my area of expertise.
“Ashikaga proposed that the artist gave up on drawing the people in the paintings because he or she wasn’t any good at it, but I took things back a step and thought, what if the artist couldn’t see the people─”
“Couldn’t see the people? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
The delinquent frowned.
He hadn’t made a peep about the leader’s theory, but apparently I didn’t warrant the same kindness.
Of course, given how short on eloquence and confidence my presentation was, someone was bound to jump on it.
But now that I’d started, it was too late to stop.
“Look, eyesight isn’t the same for everyone, right? I’m a perfect example. When I take off my glasses, the scene I see is totally different from what the delinquent sees─and if we both tried to paint that scene, we’d end up with two completely different pictures.”
“First of all, stop calling me the delinquent. I just don’t get it,” the delinquent grumbled.
I’m sure he was referring to my theory, of course, and not my nickname for him.
I was hoping Sakiguchi would come to my rescue with a hearty “That’s it!” but he had his head down in deep-thought mode─I know I’m a poor speaker compared to him, but I hoped he would at least listen!
“Um, let’s see, they say mantis shrimp can see all kinds of wavelengths of light that humans can’t see, right? And a spider perceives the world with eight eyes─and dragonflies have compound eyes.”
“I’m getting more and more confused, and this shit about compound eyes is only compounding the problem. You saying a shrimp or a spider or a dragonfly painted those pictures?”
The delinquent sounded like he was trying to pick a fight, but at least he was sinking his teeth into my presentation, which I guess made sense for a chef who didn’t turn up his nose at anything─instead of Michiru the Epicure, maybe we should call him Michiru the Epic Glutton.
“But young Dojima, isn’t the notion that the artist wasn’t human simply too fantastic?” asked Sotoin. That’s right, Sotoin was questioning my rationality.
But that’s not what I was saying.
If I had that much imagination, my life wouldn’t be the way it is.
“All I’m trying to say is that eyesight isn’t uniform. I didn’t mean the artist was a shrimp or a spider or a dragonfly─never mind all that, even if we’re just talking about human beings, not everyone’s vision is the same…”
I was back where I’d started.
This wasn’t working, time to change tack.
Let me see… How had he put it?
“Okay, take rainbows. We typically say rainbows have seven colors, but that’s not necessarily true. Some people see ten or twelve colors, and others only see five or even three─some people have trouble distinguishing between green and blue, while others can divide green into dozens of shades. And some people think pink is the same as rose.”
“You mean like how blackboards are actually green?”
Mr. Bare-Legs’ response was vigorously far removed from my metaphor, but I suppose the basic point was the same─after all, if a very dark green looks black to you, then black it is.
“Ashikaga said earlier that he’d decided to work with what he could see with his own two eyes, but everyone’s eyes see something different, so everyone will paint something different─you could even say that’s how art can exist in the first place. If we take that to its logical extreme, looking at masterpieces of the past is kind of like seeing the world through the eyes of a genius─”
I realized they were all giving me strange looks.
Crap, I’d stunned them by saying something out of character─which made sense, considering I hadn’t come up with those lines in the first place.
Their amazement was itself very much based on something.
The person giving me the strangest look of all was Sakiguchi, who hadn’t even seemed to be listening─but of course, he was like a bloodhound when he caught even a whiff of his sworn enemy.
I had to get back on track, no matter how haphazardly.
“Anyway, my theory is that the artist intended to copy the old masters for practice or whatever, but the end result turned out totally different.”
“…So you’re saying the artist had vision like yours, and unintentionally saw right through the people in the paintings?”
Ah.
That was a much clearer way of putting it.
“Amazing! Those simple mental circuits of yours sure do the job!”
“I’m overjoyed you finally feel comfortable enough around us to open up,” the delinquent said with a shrug, before adding, “but I’m not so sure about your theory. First off, I doubt many people have eyesight like yours, kid… And even if they did, they’d be seeing through some paint on a canvas, not a real person, right? So even if they saw through the paint, all they’d see would be a blank canvas. It’s not like the backgrounds would be painted in behind the human figures in the originals.”
Looks like the delinquent’s mental circuits weren’t quite as simple as I’d thought─his points were all on point.
Well, it’s not like I was genuinely saying that the masterpieces looked this or that way to the artist─I knew better than anyone that every person sees the world differently, both functionally and metaphorically, but I didn’t think the theory I’d just presented was particularly realistic.
I was just parroting most of it anyway.
I’d been curious to see how everyone would react to the idea, that’s all.
“How do you explain the fact that the Mona Lisa isn’t included?” Mr. Bare-Legs asked.
“With the Mona Lisa, I think the artist might have seen through the whole thing, not just the human subject,” I answered.
This was a pretty broad interpretation of my theory, so much so that if we accepted that, it felt like anything could go, but nevertheless, it did explain the omission.
Broad interpretation or no, a theory was a theory.
“Hmm. That sounds more like the sophistry of a criminal than a theory to me,” Sakiguchi declared. His voice was gentle, but his point was harsh─at first I thought he was praising me because of that beautiful voice, but no, however broadly I interpreted his comment, he was definitely insinuating something. He himself looked unsure why he’d chosen such sharp words, but I had a pretty good guess, so it didn’t really hurt my feelings.
The sophistry of a criminal.
Right on the money.
“Not half bad for your first attempt at deduction, young Dojima! Sophistry it may be, but what graceful, beautiful sophistry!”
This comment from our leader, who’s always one for positive reinforcement, brought my presentation to an end─which meant it was finally time for Sakiguchi’s eagerly awaited contribution.
Or at least that’s what I assumed, but I was wrong.
“Next let’s hear from Sosaku!”