Amongst those who came to view the paintings and speak privately with the artist was a well known Noh Actor, Sumie Artists, a Yogi, a Qigong Master, and even a Zen Monk.

One onlooker who claimed to experience feelings of calmness, peace and even health organized a second exhibit for Saiso Shimada.

Today, six of Shimada’s paintings appear in the latest edition of that philosopher’s book, Dr. Paul Briot’s, latest 2017 reprint, Le Rayonnant…un art vers l’Linfini.  Published by Caracteres, France.  Illustrations by Saiso Shimada.

http://www.editions-caracteres.fr/catalogue/paul-briot-le-rayonnant-un-art-vers-linfini/

Dr. Paul Briot in this book shares ideas for artists to experience and create a new art that elevates with a moment of silence and beauty.  Shimada, the first artist who was able to use meditation techniques to create precisely the art that Dr. Paul Briot envisioned, is certainly not the last.  We ask that other artists who meditate obtain a copy of the book and share with us their experiences and art.

Art rather than words are used by Shimada to interact with a crowd inciting our imagination and anchoring a powerful experience that ignites us to create with our spirit.

The silence created by Saiso Shimada’s art is a glimpse of what can be found in individual meditation, without any formal training needed by the general public.  Since many do not know meditative techniques, nor have the discipline nor the know-how to meditate, art that creates a split second of silence within the viewer — a quiet space that provides a peek into meditation without the many years of practice is a welcome moment in our busy lives. Naturally, to experience states of silence on a more continous level requires that an individual experience meditative states on his or her own, but art that elevates could be an introduction for those unfamiliar with meditation.

Japan’s Cultural Heritage of Silence

We ask museums, curators, galleries, zen temples, embassies and other public spaces to help make these shodo works by Saiso Shimada and new art works by other artists evoking a moment of silence or beauty available to a larger Japanese public.

For embassies, museums & galleries in Asia, the US & Europe, we invite financial sponsors and foundations to help make works of art that inspire a moment of silence available to a larger public.  Email us.

Saiso Shimada with Bruno Julien and Nathalie Ishizuka