Contact: nathalie.ishizuka@gmail.com

KIZUNA : THE ENDURING BONDS

Exhibition Kizuna : Embassy of Japan in Belgium March 5th – March 22nd 2024, Rue Van Maerlant 1, 1040 Brussels (10:00-12:00 and 13:30-16:00), Week Days Only, Embassy Hours.

The Japanese embassy of Brussels is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, Kizuna: the Bonds that Unite us All, featuring the artist Nathalie Ishizuka and her most recent work on the Four Elements (earth, water, air and fire) and the Crane Wife Re-Told. Over thirty paintings exhibited.

The exhibition Kizuna is born from Ishizuka working full time for over ten years with the Philosopher Dr. Paul Briot and artists after the March 11, 2011 crisis (nuclear, earthquake, tsunami) on the use of art to elevate in crisis.

Ishizuka was sent to Japan after March 11 disaster by Dr. Briot to find, select, and work with great Japanese traditional artists and masters from several disciplines who could through their art create a moment of silence within the viewer. “I thought I was coming to contribute something to the artists,” says Ishizuka, “but it was them who were training me.

While Ishizuka comes herself from a family of artists including her grandfather who painted the designs of ships and kimonos, she had no formal training in art. She was a meditator with no experience in the arts.

Ishizuka had to find and become the disciple of each Japanese master, before hoping to meditate with one or create with another. She did not learn techniques of sumie, ninon buyo (dance), shodo, japanese architecture or other (which would have taken several lifetimes says Ishizuka), but the way of being of each artist.

Nathalie’s meditations and deep friendships with Japanese masters for over ten years such as Saiso Shimada after March 11, 2011 lead to herself become an artist.

“I became an artist, by a fortunate accident,” says Ishizuka. “I loved painting and creation as a child, but never imagined to have the freedom to paint and create from one’s inner imagination. Nor the grace of such artists who carried art from within.”

Series of Japanese Cranes Shodo and Acrylic Inspired by Hokusai

Within the exhibition are twelve paintings of cranes painted on Japanese shodo paper on Canvas with gold leaf and acrylic. Each painting is named after a virtue that Ishizuka believes carried the Japanese throughout the crisis and that can be experienced by each of us: Unity, Intuitive Action, Roll with Waves, Let Go, Open Heart, Stand Tall, Truth Within, Imagination, Extend, One Pointed Focus: Life, Living Blue Threads and Face the Sun.

These twelve paintings recount the story she wrote and illustrated after the tsunami and nuclear incident to share the message behind a letter co- authored with Dr. Briot. At that time Ishizuka states, “Dr. Briot entrusted me totranslate the letter to Japanese friends which asks artists to elevate us, but it was so deep, no one wanted to translate into Japanese. No one.”

“I left no stone untouched,” says Ishizuka. “I even asked Haruki Murakami, through his editor if he could help us. He liked the letter to Japanese friends but does not translate. Finally, when faced with resistance,” says, Ishizuka, “you have to be open to another path.”

“I decided to take a fable that the Japanese knew and loved, The Crane Wife (tsuru no ongaeshi) and change the fable to illustrate the main point of the letter, that each of us are threads, and that together with our inner imagination and manifestation we can create bonds that can change the earth.”

The crane in the story is the white bobbin in Dr. Paul Briot’s poem, “The White Spindle” . The poem reads,

A white bobin quivers. It links earth and sky.

A thread unites man with God.
We are that thread.

– Paul Briot, published in The Radiant..An Art towards the Infinite?” 2018 version, Publisher Caracteres

The drawings are inspired by Hokusai. Ishizuka drew them in his simple style of using one fine black line and a simple red dot. “There is something in his minimalist cranes,” says Ishizuka “that radiates great strength and beauty.”

“These twelve cranes that tell the tale of the Crane Wife in the exhibition are surrounded by paintings of the four elements. At the time of the tsunami, earthquake and nuclear incident, I had believed that man alone with God or the universe could overcome together. That we could re-invent ourselves,” says Ishizuka. “At the time, I was not yet aware in my meditations of the elements of earth, water, air and fire,” says Ishizuka. “These four elements are within each of us and embody the whole universe. Alone without them, we are nothing.”

ARTIST NATHALIE ISHIZUKA

DATE OF EXPOSITION: JANUARY 28 – MAY 28 2023

ADDRESS OF EXHIBITION: Maison du Prieur, Parc du Rouge Cloitre, Roklooster 8, 1160 Auderghem

TIMES OF EXHIBITION: Hours of Maison du Prieur (Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun).  Wednesdays and Sundays Open 10.00 -20.00; Friday and Saturdays Open 10.00-23.00

Follow Artist on website:  NathalieIshizuka.art

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EXHIBITION INTER-SECTIONS

Artist Nathalie Ishizuka, Shodo Black Ink on Cardboard, 73cm x 52.5cm, for Exhibit Inter-Sections at Rouge Cloitre Maison du Prieur, Auderghem, Brussels, Belgium Jan 28 2023 – May 28 2023.

What if Everything in the Universe including numbers could be experienced in three basic forms : the square, the circle and the triangle?

Standing in front of one of the 12 paintings with the three basic forms in the universe, the public would take a few breaths and with the help of the meditator Ishizuka, experience the energy behind each form playfully.

When we do so life becomes interesting and less intimidating. We can begin by seeing a person we think we know, a place we enjoy, or even the sun itself as a shape or an interaction of shapes. Like a child we experience the energy behind the shape and listen to our intuition rather than being immediately taken by its external beauty. What vibration does this form share with me? Is it love? Compassion? Joy?

Will you choose to keep a respectful distance and fascination with form? 

Like the kanji “ma” (間) or space : choosing the right and playful distance with a person, a place, one’s work, ones loved ones, the universe and even one’s thoughts is a challenge, a constant dance with form.  When we practice with this element of distance or space in our own daily life so we too can dance with form, remain unattached, while profoundly loving ourselves and the universe.

Exhibition Events Included Private and Surprise Concert for Paintings on Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday, Artist Nathalie Ishizuka, Acrylic on Canvas, Japan’s Sun of Peace, 100cm x 120cm and Ayumi Nabata, Composer and Pianist, with Yuina Takamizo for Private Concert.  Music composition for Paintings.

Shorinji Kempo Martial Arts Exhibition with the Master Philippe Chazerand and Japanese Paintings

Japanese Martial Arts, and the tradition of silence that comes from these arts is found in painting and all the great arts of Japan.  We thank the beauty, strength and kindness of the Shorinji Kempo club as well as their founder Philippe Chazerand and their martial arts team members who each reflect the Japanese quiet, modestand powerful spirit of Japan through their simple way of being. 

Poetry and Painting at the Exposition Inter-Sections

The poem that inspired the paintings of the three forms in various positions comes from the philosopher and poet, Dr. Paul Briot.  Dr. Briot and Ishizuka worked for over ten years in Japan with artists. 

The original Painting of Masked Suns by Saiso Shimada published in Le Rayonnant, Un Art Vers l’Infini by Dr. Paul Briot with original shakuhachi music by Masaki Nakamura created for each painting in that book, is what inspired Ishizuka for these twelve paintings that were exhibited at the entrance of the Monestery.  In the painting that inspired Ishizuka, Shimada envisioned three forms as the actual forms of the sun.  Nathalie at the time, did not understand her painting.

It was only after meditating on a series of numbers 1-12 (the 12 numbers of the clock) that Nathalie felt the immediate need to paint the three forms in a variation of different positions.  In doing so, she felt released.

All my shodo knowledge, comes from Saiso Shimada says Ishizuka.  I did not learn shodo technique as it would have taken me several years, but rather her way of being.  My first shodo paintings for Kizuna, I did prior to meeting Shimada, but they opened my interest to this form of art.

Poem by Dr. Paul Briot, Masked Suns (Le Rayonnant, Un art Vers L’infini, editions Carecteres).

Noble suns move forward masked.

At rare intervals the veils part.

Announcing radical changes.

Time. The Intermittent revolutionary.

Follow and like the artist on instagram: nathalieishizuka.art

Visit Website and Peek and Future Exhibitions through Virtual Tours

www.NathalieIshizuka.ART

Private Event and Meditation

Private Collection

Private Collection

Exhibited Six Months in Singapore at the EU Embassy on Loan. Exhibited in Solo Exhibition Inter-Sections, Brussels, Belgium, Rouge Cloitre, Maison du Prieur January – May 2023

Contact: nathalie.ishizuka@gmail.com

Artist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathalieishizuka.art

Artist Website : https://www.nathalieishizuka.art

KIZUNA : THE ENDURING BONDS

Exhibition Kizuna : Embassy of Japan in Belgium March 5th – March 22nd 2024, Rue Van Maerlant 1, 1040 Brussels (10:00-12:00 and 13:30-16:00), Week Days Only, Embassy Hours.

The Japanese embassy of Brussels is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, Kizuna: the Bonds that Unite us All, featuring the artist Nathalie Ishizuka and her most recent work on the Four Elements (earth, water, air and fire) and the Crane Wife Re-Told. Over thirty paintings exhibited.

The exhibition Kizuna is born from Ishizuka working full time for over ten years with the Philosopher Dr. Paul Briot and artists after the March 11, 2011 crisis (nuclear, earthquake, tsunami) on the use of art to elevate in crisis.

Ishizuka was sent to Japan after March 11 disaster by Dr. Briot to find, select, and work with great Japanese traditional artists and masters from several disciplines who could through their art create a moment of silence within the viewer. “I thought I was coming to contribute something to the artists,” says Ishizuka, “but it was them who were training me.

While Ishizuka comes herself from a family of artists including her grandfather who painted the designs of ships and kimonos, she had no formal training in art. She was a meditator with no experience in the arts.

Ishizuka had to find and become the disciple of each Japanese master, before hoping to meditate with one or create with another. She did not learn techniques of sumie, ninon buyo (dance), shodo, japanese architecture or other (which would have taken several lifetimes says Ishizuka), but the way of being of each artist.

Nathalie’s meditations and deep friendships with Japanese masters for over ten years such as Saiso Shimada after March 11, 2011 lead to herself become an artist.

“I became an artist, by a fortunate accident,” says Ishizuka. “I loved painting and creation as a child, but never imagined to have the freedom to paint and create from one’s inner imagination. Nor the grace of such artists who carried art from within.”

The Four Elements

“The cranes that tell the tale of the Crane Wife in the exhibition are surrounded by paintings of the four elements. At the time of the tsunami, earthquake and nuclear incident, I had believed that man alone with God or the universe could overcome together. That we could re-invent ourselves,” says Ishizuka. “At the time, I was not yet aware in my meditations of the elements of earth, water, air and fire,” says Ishizuka. “These four elements are within each of us and embody the whole universe. Alone without them, we are nothing.”

The four elements are painted on large canvasses in acrylic often using Gold to show their importance. “These elements surround us and they engulf us,” says Ishizuka. “They are us,” she admits, “but far more than us, she adds simply. Humans are so small in this universe.

Without recognition of these forces within and without, it is hard to believe that we can overcome anything especially with current challenges in the world,” says Ishizuka.