Charis (diptych), mineral pigment and gold leaf on paper, 89 x 132 inches
Splendor Vision, mineral pigment on paper, 89 x 67 inches
Zechariah, mineral pigment on paper, 18 x 14 inches
Rivers - Memoir, mineral pigment and gold leaf, 18 x 18 inches
Golden Shadows, mineral pigment and gold leaf on paper, 18 x 14 inches
Untitled, mineral pigment on paper, 24 x 18 inches
Mountain Memoir - Columbine, mineral pigment, gold and silver leaf on paper, 12 x 12 inches
Columbine Silk (gold), mineral pigment and gold leaf on paper, 35 x 25 inches
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAKOTO FUJIMURA: CHARIS
July 2 – August 2, 2008
Opening reception July 2, 6 – 8 pm
Makoto Fujimura’s exhibit “ Charis” which is primarily composed of three monumental gold compositions completed over the last 10 years in New York, shows the significance of his most powerful work; December Hour, Golden Fire, and Charis.
In painting December Hour, he navigated between thoughts of life and death. Dedicating the piece to a dying friend, he prayed desperately as he layered gold over gold, struggling to understand God’s wisdom in taking someone so young.
Golden Fire develops this theme further, taking cues from Dante’s Divine Comedy. This painting focuses on the theme of fire, particularly significant in our post 9/11 reality. Fujimura wanted to depict gold rising in the fire of destruction, and at the same time, letting the surface also speak of the purifying power of fire.
Charis, further emphasizes the Golden Fire language. In homage to Willem de Kooning, gold moves in a dispersed, gestured movement. His interest in abstraction is in the essentiation of reality, which he believes, de Kooning was interested in as well. In that search, he creates space that is both flat and spatial. Gold is that paradox: it creates space (by being semi-transparent) and remains flat (by being mirror-like) at the same time. Perhaps the only way that an “essential flatness” can be full of created space is by using gold.
Gold, in all civilizations, symbolizes divinity. The act of layering gold, to Fujimura, is to invite the divine reality (multi-dimensionality) to break into our broken (flat) reality. “Charis,” the Greek word that St. Paul used for “grace,” is shorthand for the word “charisma,” which means gift. Art is a gift, and essentially, art is grace. The more Fujimura journeys deeply into the effects of gold and mineral pigments, the more he is taken by the refractive possibilities of the materials, while at the same time, unable to contain or control the glory built into them.
Having been taught as a student in Japan, that one must use the best materials in order to truly get to know the ancient craft, he began using the finest gold and minerals he could purchase. Fujimura is now considered one of the most important mid-career painters working in the "Nihonga" (Japanese painting) style. He is recognized both in the United States and Japan for his contribution to the revitalization of this ancient technique, as his innovations have inspired an entire generation of artists to follow in his style.
MAKOTO FUJIMURA: CHARIS
July 2 – August 2, 2008
Opening reception July 2, 6 – 8 pm
Makoto Fujimura’s exhibit “ Charis” which is primarily composed of three monumental gold compositions completed over the last 10 years in New York, shows the significance of his most powerful work; December Hour, Golden Fire, and Charis.
In painting December Hour, he navigated between thoughts of life and death. Dedicating the piece to a dying friend, he prayed desperately as he layered gold over gold, struggling to understand God’s wisdom in taking someone so young.
Golden Fire develops this theme further, taking cues from Dante’s Divine Comedy. This painting focuses on the theme of fire, particularly significant in our post 9/11 reality. Fujimura wanted to depict gold rising in the fire of destruction, and at the same time, letting the surface also speak of the purifying power of fire.
Charis, further emphasizes the Golden Fire language. In homage to Willem de Kooning, gold moves in a dispersed, gestured movement. His interest in abstraction is in the essentiation of reality, which he believes, de Kooning was interested in as well. In that search, he creates space that is both flat and spatial. Gold is that paradox: it creates space (by being semi-transparent) and remains flat (by being mirror-like) at the same time. Perhaps the only way that an “essential flatness” can be full of created space is by using gold.
Gold, in all civilizations, symbolizes divinity. The act of layering gold, to Fujimura, is to invite the divine reality (multi-dimensionality) to break into our broken (flat) reality. “Charis,” the Greek word that St. Paul used for “grace,” is shorthand for the word “charisma,” which means gift. Art is a gift, and essentially, art is grace. The more Fujimura journeys deeply into the effects of gold and mineral pigments, the more he is taken by the refractive possibilities of the materials, while at the same time, unable to contain or control the glory built into them.
Having been taught as a student in Japan, that one must use the best materials in order to truly get to know the ancient craft, he began using the finest gold and minerals he could purchase. Fujimura is now considered one of the most important mid-career painters working in the "Nihonga" (Japanese painting) style. He is recognized both in the United States and Japan for his contribution to the revitalization of this ancient technique, as his innovations have inspired an entire generation of artists to follow in his style.
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