MAKOTO FUJIMURA 

Makoto Fujimura is a leading contemporary Nihonga artist, and an innovator of culture. Fujimura’s paintings are in the collections of almost every major museum in Japan and he was honored with a career retrospective in Tokyo before he turned forty.

Born in the US and trained in Japan, Fujimura's extensive exposure to both Western and Asian Art has created a unique fusion of the two in his own work. He spent his early years in Japan and retuned as a postgraduate on a Japanese governmental scholarship to study Nihonga (traditional Japanese painting) at the famed Tokyo University of Fine Art. Graduating from his MFA program as the top painter, he entered into an apprenticeship with the master Nihonga painter Matazo Kayama (1927-2004) to pursue his doctoral studies under the master's tutelage. Because of Kayama’s open mindedness and encouragement, Fujimura was able to experiment with the Nihonga tradition, achieving a synthesis between his outsider point of view and classical Japanese painting. With a particular affinity for the metaphysical aspects of Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting, Fujimura’s art is grounded in a deep religious faith. In 2002 Fujimura was given a Presidential appointment to the National Council on the Arts. He is also the founder and visionary for the arts advocacy organization IAM (International Arts Movement) since 1991.
 
The completed works for Fujimura's The Four Holy Gospels manuscript project, first exhibited at Dillon Gallery in fall, 2010, are currently on display at the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA), New York City.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2010 Dillon Gallery, The Four Holy Gospels, New York City
  • 2009 Dillon Gallery, Soliloquies: Georges Rouault/Makoto Fujimura, New York City
  • 2008 Dillon Gallery, Charis, New York City
  • 2006 Golden Flames, Making Peace, The City of London Festival with Yoko Ono, London, France
  • 2003-04 Takashimaya Gallery, Osaka/ Tokyo
  • 2002 Gallery at Matsuya Ginza, Tokyo
  • 1998 Dillon Gallery, Images of Grace, New York City
  • 1997 Dillon Gallery, Hours, New York City

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

  • Cincinnati Museum
  • National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo
  • Contemporary Museum of Tokyo
  • St. Louis Art Museum
  • Tamaya Corporation
  • Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
  • Billy Graham Center Museum
  • Yamaguchi Prefecture Museum
  • Nerima Museum of Art
  • Oxford House, Taikoo Place, Hong Kong