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Indepth Arts News:
"MAKOTO FUJIMURA: Water Flames and Zero Summer"
2006-05-16 until 2006-08-20
Katzen Arts Center
Washington, DC,
USA United States of America
Sara Tecchia Roma New York is proud to announce an exhibition by MAKOTO FUJIMURA at the American University's Katzen Center in Washington DC. Based partly on T.S. Elliot's "The Four Quartets", Fujimura visually explores on the phrase: "The fire and the rose are one." "Fire can be illustrated easily," states Fujimura. "And the abbreviated forms can be found everywhere. But how is fire's essence to be captured? What is its shape? How do you describe its energy? When fire becomes more than merely a symbol, but a phenomenon, then the depictions of flames become a difficult, if not an impossible, task. The attempt is to capture the essence of something you think you see, but in reality is elusive to capture. Fire is at once recognizable and yet mysteriously abstract at the same time.
"The materials I use, mostly derived from the medieval methods of Japan, lend themselves subtle intersection between abstraction and representation hidden behind the four basic elements: Water, Earth, Air and Fire. Pulverized precious minerals, gifts from the earth, are layered with water onto Japanese mulberry and hemp fibers, creating a semi-permanent surface. The prismatic semi-opaque layers trap light, creating refraction of light for the eyes to delight in. Paper breathes, accommodating itself to the environment, and thus continues to mold itself to the surroundings, and that process is captured by the watermarks on the surface. Gold powder, mixed with animal hide glue, is the ideal color to be placed on top of Japanese vermillion and cochineal (derived from a tiny insect in India). The surface itself is an ecosystem of colors combining earth with air, and water with, in this new series, fire."
This exhibition includes excerpts from the 2005 Water Flames exhibition, as well as work leading up to this revelation.
Makoto Fujimura was born in 1960 in Boston, MA. Educated in both the US and Japan, he graduated from Bucknell University in 1983, and received his MFA from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. His thesis painting was purchased by the university and he was invited to study in the Japanese Painting Doctorate program, a first for an outsider to this prestigious traditional program. Known for marrying abstract expressionism with the traditional Japanese art of Nihonga, Fujimura has had numerous solo shows both in the US and abroad. He was also honored in 1992 as the youngest artist ever to have had a piece acquired by Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.
Makoto Fujimura is represent by Sara Tecchia Roma New York. See: www.saratecchia.com
The Katzen Arts Center is located at 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW in Washington, DC.
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