Makoto Fujimura - Silence Ame (Rain)
Makoto Fujimura - Interior Castle
Makoto Fujimura - Silence and Beauty Eco
Pigment
January 17th – March 14th, 2020
Makoto Fujimura is currently in the group show Pigment featuring works by Louise Blyton, Makoto Fujimura, Raphaëlle Goethals, Judith Kruger and Hiroko Otake. These notable artists delve into the exploration of color not merely as visual sensation, but its physical manifestation as raw pigment and all that it conjures.
The fact that color is not tangible tends to be overlooked. Our eyes detect light with wavelengths that bounces off objects, determining the particular color we see. This selection of artworks engages with the corporeal material that governs what we perceive as color. Whether it’s the application of natural minerals to affirm our relationship with the earth or the vibrancy of pure pigment to accentuate form. Each of these artists utilizes the physical aspect of color to give meaningful insight into our visual faculty and beyond.
Makoto Fujimura fuses traditional Nihonga painting with the techniques of Western abstraction. Fujimura uses stone-ground minerals such as gold, platinum, malachite, azurite, and cinnabar. He believes that the minerals particularly allow for a fuller exploration of the space between flatness of abstraction and interior space of representation. His deep religious faith attracts him to the metaphysical aspects of Abstract Expressionism and Color Field Painting.
Expand to view Makoto Fujimura‘s:
Makoto Fujimura fuses traditional Nihonga painting with the techniques of Western abstraction. Fujimura uses stone-ground minerals such as gold, platinum, malachite, azurite, and cinnabar. He believes that the minerals-particularly-allow for a fuller exploration of the space between flattness of abstraction and interior space of representation. “Gold is that paradox: it creates space (by being semi-transparent) and remains flat (by being mirror-like) at the same time,” says Fujimura. His deep religious faith attracts him to the metaphysical aspects of Abstract Expressionism and Color Field Painting.
Born in the United States and trained in Japan, Fujimura’s extensive exposure to both Western and Asian art has created a unique fusion of two in his own work. He spent his early years in Japan and returned as a postgraduate on a Japanese governmental scholarship to study Nihonga (traditional Japanese painting) at the Tokyo University of Fine Art.
Graduating from his MFA program as the top painter, he began an apprenticeship with the master Nihonga painter Matazo Kayama to pursue his doctoral studies. Fujimura was able to experiment with the Nihonga tradition, achieving a synthesis he continues to explore today between his outsider point of view and classical Japanese painting. Fujimura’s works are included in the collections of almost every major museum in Japan and has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and world.
Cincinnati Art Museum
Roberta Ahmanson
Howard and Roberta Ahmanson
Howard Lutnik
Contemporary Museum of Tokyo
Tokyo Museum of Modern Art
Oxford House, CNN/Time Warner Building, Taikoo Place, Hong Kong
The Sato Museum
St. Louis Art Museum
Tamaya Corporation
Sanbi-Shosha Collection, Japan
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
Yamaguchi Prefecture Museum
Nerima Art Museum
Kikkoman Corporation
Contemporary uses of gold have stretched far beyond its historical foundations in societal status, wealth and spirituality. As a substance with legendary qualities, subject and form no longer limit gold. In Bentley Gallery’s exhibition Gold Rush, 15 artists come together to challenge perceptions (and uses) of the world’s most alluring metal.
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