Opening speech by Naoko Motojima
Ginza Nagasaki Art Gallery

Tokyo, June 23 1997. MARYLEEN SCHILTKAMP
" RENAISSANCE "
Light of Dawn
Continuity of Tradition in Contemporary Art

Maryleen Schiltkamp has become a precious friend to me since I first met her years ago in the Netherlands. I have visited her in her Amsterdam studio countless times. At each visit I was deeply moved by what was happening there. I saw her standing (day and night) facing a big canvas, sometimes with a bursting energy, other times sunk in deep thoughts, almost to the point of agony. The results of her efforts are now to be shown here in Ginza, Japan.

The artist is "Nothing" ; by becoming one with the material (brush & paint and the objects that she is portraying) and pouring her soul and longing into it, she stands in service to the source of all creation. This is Maryleen Schiltkamp, artist. And her paintings are the final results of a ' Synergy ' with all the elements involved.

Like the great Renaissance masters, she continues to learn humbly from that great teacher called " Tradition ". Her works are thus ceaselessly renewed and remain unique. She also entrusts herself to nature's pure and wild forms. In solitude she reads philosophy. And she interacts with the surrounding world with the high sensitivity that views no single event or moment as insignificant. What she expresses in her painting stems out of the deepest part of her entire being.

In her paintings, Maryleen resets the stages of dramas that took place between thick brick walls in Europe ( in human history ); she recreates a natural environment that is dynamic, rhythmical and infinite; she portrays the solitude of human existence in the abyss, and she indicates the light that breaks through darkness.

Since her first visit to Japan, Maryleen has thrown herself into Japanese culture. In front of Ukujoe, she stood still for a large space of time. In Kimono she walked silently. And she took up the brush of Japanese calligraphy. The delicacy and elegance in the Japanese tradition that she has started to absorb are now all integrated in her paintings. (In fact her works have always been an intermingling of elements across borders of time and space.)

Maryleen's works have awakened in me a simple heart to pray. I believe that it is the light that announces the dawn of the New Century, a New Era when the souls of East & West shall build truly firm and valuable bonds. I hope this light reaches many of us.

NAOKO MOTOJIMA (pictured below together with Maryleen)