An art work for mister Tsuyoshi Yamazaki, CEO at NIPRO.

I was approached by Jean-Pascal Marquié, who had previously worked with Readytex Art Gallery in Suriname and Monique Nouh Chaia (CEO of Readytex) had recommended me. Thank you, Monique and Jean-Pascal for this opportunity. I wrote an accompanying text for mister Tsuyoshi Yamazaki, to be given to him together with the actual art work. You can read parts of this text below the image.

MOUNTAIN • RESILIENCE • EUROPE • JAPAN
Analogue collage, 40x30cm 
© Maartje Jaquet 2024

The idea was, that the art work contained referrals to different things. First of all the meaning of mister Tsuyoshi Yamazaki’s name. Tsuyoshi meaning ‘strength, resilience’ and Yamazaki meaning ‘mountain’. Secondly there had to be a referral to both Japan and Europe. For instance, a sunrise / sunset. There was also the wish to make the art colorful and maybe let it have flowers in it too. Last but not least … I was given full artistic freedom.

Scissors, glue and tape within reach, I went through my collection of vintage books and magazines, looking for images of mountains, sunsets, flowers, etcetera. For the meaning of ‘Tsuyoshi’,  ‘strength/resilience’ I had looked up what symbols go with these words. I especially  loved the symbol of the tree: solid and grounded, letting go of its leaves and growing new ones. I also came across the infinity symbol:  ∞ 

Now, coming to the final art work I would like to guide the viewer through the collage with a short list of notes:
• The tree: Japanese wishing tree at a temple in Japan. Strength, resilience, good wishes.
• The mountain: European alps, with a sunset or it could also be a sunrise …
• The images are mirrored and turned upside down which not only symbolizes the two sides of the world, Japan and Europe, but also refers to the infinity symbol ∞ (resilience): in the collage one can see not only the turning of the world but also the turning of fate, the turning of one’s perspective, ones look at things. The sun is on both opposite sides, up right and down lift, which refers to sunrise and sunset.
• When you look at the shape of the upside down tree on the left side of the image, you can see that in this way it has gotten the shape of a mountain.
• Flowers: I added two flowers of a eucalyptus tree: these are medicinal flowers, which I think suits your company in a symbolic way. Placed hanging like this, they make the two turnt images come together in one ‘credible’ world. The way they hang, their size and color, may remind the viewer of red lanterns, going with the red colored temple, too.