SHIZEN
With the support of the Embassy of Japan in Belgium
Opening RendezVous, Brussels Art Week : Thursday September 4, 2025 from 5 to 9 pm
Dates RendezVous, Brussels Art Week : September 4 - 7, from 11 am to 6 pm
Exhibition at the gallery : Opening Sunday September 7, 2025 from 2 to 7 pm - open until October 25, 2025
During my childhood, I was surrounded by lush nature, which helped my feelings develop. Not only nature itself, but also the culture of this land. I was taught how to work the land at an early age. My family moved to various regions of Japan, from north to south, which allowed me to experience very different sensations. With my five senses awakened, I wanted to study nature in depth through the natural sciences.
Around the age of 20, art completely absorbed me. Japan's opening up to the outside world allowed Japanese people to travel and open up to the outside world. On the advice of my teacher, Yasuo Taguchi, I visited Italy and Belgium to learn tempera techniques. These study trips allowed me to find my own technique.
The relationship between the location of the object being viewed and the observer or visitor defines the concept of Ma-ai. In Japanese culture, the relationship between nature and society is similar; it is sacred. Not in the strictly religious sense of the term, but rather as a kind of pure friendship between man and nature.
In my technique, the succession of layers aims to seek new effects for a renewed experience. Ma-ai is defined in my painting by the location of a line, an element in relation to the space in which it is placed or included. The concept proposed in this new research is less silent.
I seek movement in the application of a multitude of coloured dots beneath the surface. The way it is perceived will depend on the position of the observer's eye. Like the anamorphosis used in art history, the world evoked in my work can only be seen by moving around. A privileged relationship between the work and the visitor and a prime example of Ma-ai in a new form.
- Sei Arimori 4 August 2025
