Makoto Fujimura

The Generative "Yes" - God Still Wants Us to Name the Animals

Makoto Fujimura — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:00:00 -0800

Raising Children in the City

Makoto Fujimura — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:00:00 -0800

Space for Artists

Makoto Fujimura — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:00:00 -0800

Where Artists Live and Work

Makoto Fujimura — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:35:17 -0800

Art In Action (Part V): Stand Together

Makoto Fujimura — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:04:43 -0700

IAM’s next Encounter will take place February 26-28, 2009, in lower Manhattan, and the theme of the Encounter will be “Art in Action.” When asked about the genesis of the next Encounter’s theme, Makoto Fujimura points to the 1982 book by Nicholas Wolterstorff of the same title. “Art in Action” has remained a staple on the bookshelf of artists and creative catalysts throughout the world who seek to dig deeper into the meaning and purpose for art.

Following is Part Five of Christy Tennant’s recent interview with Makoto Fujimura about the theme of the next IAM Encounter:

CT: You mentioned that merely reacting to things that happen in our society is a violation of Christian love. Can you elaborate on that a bit? What are some of the reactions you are referring to?

MF: Well, stereotyping and disengaging are two of the most dangerous reactions. Everyone is stereotyping one another. Recently, Tony Carnes gave a talk at IAM, and he referred to a NY Times editorial he read that suggested that what we need is for bleeding heart liberals and bleeding heart conservatives to come together – I thought that was great. Rather than taking a stand against sides within our culture, we need to find ways to stand together. Of course we will disagree, but ultimately, when we cling to our disagreements, no one wins. A house divided cannot stand, and as long as we are living side by side on this planet, we are living under the same roof. When it goes down, we all suffer.

I’m not saying there is never a time to “take a stand.” The civil rights movement depended on people taking a stand against racial injustices. But too often, we are pitted against one another rather than being for one another. When we take a stand, with our art or whatever, we need to be sure that what we are standing for benefits everyone. Christ took a stand for justice. Love for enemies benefits both the lover and the loved. Racial equality benefits all of society. And art that becomes language for reconciliation and redemption and justice benefits all of society.

Art In Action (Part IV): Loving Offensively

Makoto Fujimura — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:53:00 -0700

IAM’s next Encounter will take place February 26-28, 2009, in lower Manhattan, and the theme of the Encounter will be “Art in Action.” When asked about the genesis of the next Encounter’s theme, Makoto Fujimura points to the 1982 book by Nicholas Wolterstorff of the same title. “Art in Action” has remained a staple on the bookshelf of artists and creative catalysts throughout the world who seek to dig deeper into the meaning and purpose for art.

Following is Part Four of Christy Tennant’s recent interview with Makoto Fujimura about the theme of the next IAM Encounter:

CT: If art is supposed to be a means of repairing and rehumanizing the culture around us, what is the artist’s responsibility to that end? Does Nicholas Wolterstoff place the responsibility on artists themselves?

MF: Yes, and no.

Nick is one of the few people who talks about an artist’s responsibility as not the opposite of freedom, but rather that an artist’s freedom is connected to his responsibility in society. To Nick, they’re not disjointed.

This is another example of how Nick was prophetic, suggesting that freedom and responsibility have to overlap. If not, society will be broken by both outside forces (i.e. 9/11) and internal forces (i.e. gang violence).

Are we doing anything internally to address issues of societal injustice? Or are we just reacting to it when it happens? If we are just reacting, this is a violation of Christian love. Justice is not retaliation. It is dealing with internal injustices, and that is a responsibility of artists

The world is drawn to that work which seeks to transform culture. Even under attack, such as terrorism, we need to have language to address these issues – and create things not just because we hate our enemies, but because we love our neighbors. In one way, 9/11 exposed the fact that we don’t have this language.

IAM is not fighting a culture war, because in a culture war, no one wins. So many are driven by fear, and use fear to propagate their organizations and ideologies. If anything, we should LOVE offensively.

Art In Action (Part III)

Makoto Fujimura — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:08:05 -0700

Following is Part Three of Christy Tennant’s recent interview with Makoto Fujimura about the theme of the next IAM Encounter:

CT: You mentioned that Art in Action is a philosophical approach to the arts, especially for artists who are Christians. What is one ofthe philosophical insights you gleaned from Art in Action?

MF: I am deeply concerned with the issue ofjustice, and this book partly addresses the fact that Art and Beauty flow fromconcern for justice and the brokenness and how unjust the world is. Art is a medium for mediating that conversation.

We don’t usually think of art that way. Often, art is divorced from society – Art egotistical, and Society is common. But for Nick, art is based on this idea of justice within society. For him, art is a means for rehumanizing the world.

Nick doesn’t talk about “excellence” the way we so often do. Instead, he talks about art’s “fittingness.” One of his criteria for beauty is Does this expression properly fit this broken reality? Something beautiful and lofty might not be good if it doesn’t fit. Should we have an absolute standard of excellence for beauty that does not take into account the circumstances of the broken world? How does that fit?

The Greek philosophers tried to define happiness and goodness by sets of ideals determined by your status and the accomplishments you work toward. Their conclusions were that beauty and happiness could be achieved if all of the circumstances were in place to make one happy and beautiful. But Augustine of Hippo was one of the first Christian philosophers to say no, it’s not like that, because God doesn’t work that way. God wants us to be aware of brokenness, as a precondition of “loving our neighbor.” It is only possible to have godly happiness if you are aware of sorrow and brokenness. The Christian definition of love requires an identifying with suffering, rather than divorcing yourself from suffering.

So art divorced from love is like the Greeks ignoring the plights of the broken and obtaining a form of happiness that is removed from cruelty. Plato would have an absolute standard but on a practical level didn’t want to be connected to reality, while Augustine connected reality and brokenness. Love is the object – this is what Christ has shown to be immovable.

Nick’s new book on Justice (Justice: Rights and Wrongs, published 2007) is much clearer about this article and deals with it in more depth.

For the artist, Artin Action speaks on many levels, and poses both Christians and non-Christians with conceptual issues and questions that people would not normally ask in art school. It gives post-modernist philosophers language to not just divide, but connect. If we believe in a standard of love, everything changes.

Art In Action (Part II)

Makoto Fujimura — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:35:12 -0700

IAM’s next Encounter will take place February 26-28, 2009, in lower Manhattan, and the theme of the Encounter will be “Art in Action.” When asked about the genesis of the next Encounter’s theme, Makoto Fujimura points to the 1982 book by Nicholas Wolterstorff of the same title. “Art in Action” has remained a staple on the bookshelf of artists and creative catalysts throughout the world who seek to dig deeper into the meaning and purpose for art.

Following is Part Two of Christy Tennant’s recent interview with Makoto Fujimura about the theme of the next IAM Encounter (February 26-28,2009):

CT: I heard you say once that Art in Action was very prophetic. How so?

MF: Art in Action first came out about thirty-six years ago. Nick (the author) was pointing out the problem of art being disconnected from society, where there is almost a movement away from wanting to communicate to the audience. He hit on something that we are seeing realized today – where the arts are on the fringe and not really impacting the whole of society. So in that regard, it was very insightful and prophetic.

In the early 1980’s, truth, beauty and goodness were taboo subjects. You couldn’t talk about those things without being laughed at in academia. To be at Yale (as Nick was at that time) and talking about these things was pretty radical, especially in philosophy circles.

Nowadays, there is a renaissance of Christian philosophers, but at that time, there were few known Christians in philosophy. Back then, Christians were often exiled from their field as artists. But to use the Generative Creativity metaphor, philosophy is upstream from culture; philosophy is a source for the cultural river. And a lot of what Nick talks about in this book has not been actualized yet. It’s been nearly forty years, but the book is not outdated, and it is very important for today’s generation of artists to connect with that material. Some of the examples could be updated, but besides that, it is very timely. The ideas and analyses are as relevant today as they were in 1980 – perhaps even more so. Philosophical discussions tend to have a longer shelf life than most, and IAM hopes to help keep this discussion going.

Charis Exhibit to Open at Dillon Gallery

Makoto Fujimura — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:00:42 -0700

Fujimura Studio announces:

Charis Exhibit to open at Dillon Gallery in New York (555.W.25th Street, between 10th and 11th Ave.) July 2nd (opening from 6-8:30pm) to August 2nd (closed on Mondays). Charis exhibit is comprised of three large gold paintings that Makoto Fujimura has completed in the last decade in New York. Here's a note Makoto wrote about the exhibit.

I began to use gold, in the leaf form as well as in the powder form, very early on in my studies of Nihonga (literally "Japan-painting"). I was taught as a student that I must use the best materials in order to truly get to know the ancient craft. So, despite the cost involved, my MFA thesis painting used the best gold and minerals that I could purchase. I wrote in River Grace about the experience of encountering the extravagance of beauty leading to a profound wrestling of faith and art. The three major pieces that I've done in the last ten years in New York reveal the consistency (or stubbornness) of my insistence on continuing to use these materials, but with diverse results.

In painting the December Hour, I navigated between thoughts of life and death. Dedicating the piece to a dying friend, I prayed desperately as I layered gold over gold, struggling to understand God's wisdom in taking someone so young. In the medieval Book of Hours, December connotes death, but as I worked to complete it, and as I see it now, the painting speaks back to me as an emblem for the resurrection reality, that which theologian N.T. Wright has recently called "Life after Life after Death."

Golden Fire develops this theme further. Taking cues from Dante's Divine Comedy, this piece focuses on the theme of fire, particularly significant in our post 9-11 reality. I 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.

My latest painting, Charis, further emphasizes the Golden Fire language. In homage to de Kooning, gold moves in a dispersed, gestured movement. Critic Clement Greenberg did not approve of De Kooning's paintings as pure abstraction since de Kooning did not deny the "essential flatness of a painted space." I am interested in the de Kooning that failed to fulfill Greenbergian definition of abstraction. My interest in abstraction is in the essentiation of reality, which, I believe, de Kooning was interested in as well. In that search, I became interested in creating space that is both flat and spatial at the same time. 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.

Takashi Murakami, in Super Flat, states: "The world of the future might be like what Japan is today - super flat." Murakami desires to merge the layers of high and low art, visually achieving flatness via Pop use of acrylic colors. His plastic images seem divorced from tradition, but his colors are a faithful remnant of his training in Nihonga tradition. While the flatness of imagery is an important legacy of Japanese tradition (and perhaps in a twisted way true to Greenberg), the superficiality and the virtuality of flat imagery can detach us from the greater Reality and the metaphysical. We may live in Flatland, but God does not.

Gold, in all civilizations, symbolizes divinity. The act of layering gold, to me, is to pray for the divine New 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. A "grace arena" is created in the layered gold and minerals. The more I journey deeply into the effects of gold and mineral pigments, the more I am taken by the refractive possibilities of the materials, while at the same time unable to contain, and control, the glory built into them. Glory spills out, like the golden aura we stand under - a tabernacle of hope.

Art in Action (Part 1)

Makoto Fujimura — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:33:26 -0700

In 1991, Makoto Fujimura began a small gathering of artists and creative catalysts interested in wrestling with the many questions of art, faith and humanity. This group became known as International Arts Movement (IAM), and today, IAM is constantly breaking ground as a non-profit arts organization that stands not cleanly within religious or secular arena, but rather in a third arena that intersects the two. Because of its strong emphasis on matters of faith, especially the mission of seeking to rehumanize modern culture through the arts, the IAM community attracts many men and women of faith, eager to incorporate their beliefs into their creativity. Likewise, because of it’s strong emphasis on artistic excellence and generative creativity, many artists with no particular faith commitments seek to join the discussions that take place at IAM’s gatherings.

Each year in February, IAM holds an annual event known as the IAM Encounter. Part conference, part festival, part workshop, the IAM Encounter draws artists and creative catalysts from all over the globe. In 2008, over 37 states and 8 nations were represented at the three-day event based around the theme of “Transforming the Cultural River.”

IAM’s next Encounter will take place February 26-28, 2009, in lower Manhattan, and the theme of the Encounter will be “Art in Action.” When asked about the genesis of the next Encounter’s theme, Makoto Fujimura points to the 1980 book by Nicholas Wolterstorff of the same title. “Art in Action” has remained a staple on the bookshelf of artists and creative catalysts throughout the world who seek to dig deeper into the meaning and purpose for art.

Christy Tennant recently interviewed Makoto Fujimura about the 2009 Encounter, and particularly the theme of “Art in Action.” Here’s what he had to say:

CT: Mako, I was at the Calvin College Worship Symposium in January of this year, and I saw you interviewed by Dr. Wolterstorff there. How did you and he initially connect?

MF: My relationship with Nicholas Wolterstorff began years ago, through a colleague at the University of Virginia. Dr. Hunter introduced us at a conference there. I had read Art in Action and really appreciated it. I think very philosophically about issues, so for me, it was very good to have a philosopher who was also a theologian. I had known theologians who delved into art and philosophy – for example, Francis Shaffer. But he was a theologian and pastor. Nicholas Wolterstorff is a philosopher who is recognized in his field, and he writes philosophically about the very things that I am most passionate about. So his book, and the insights I gleaned from it, were very helpful to me.

CT: Your past Encounter themes have included “Artists as Reconcilers” and “Generative Creativity.” How did you decide, all these years after first being introduced to Dr. Wolterstorff’s book, to base the next Encounter on its theme of “Art in Action?”

MF: I had invited Nick to speak at an IAM event soon after 9/11 – at Kristen Frederickson Gallery (birthed after our Tribeca Temporary project ended) – which was a gallery that emerged, literally, from the ashes of Ground Zero, when artists exhibited their work as a response to that tragedy, just a few blocks away from the smoldering ruins. Later, I asked him to write an essay for my catalogue Splendor of the Medium, and it was one of the best essays ever written about my work. Nick and I connect on a philosophical level in a way I have rarely experienced with anyone else. At that time, we had a very rigorous discussion on how what Nick wrote in 1980 can apply to us today, especially in a post-9/11 world. I think this is a very important issue for IAM to be thinking about: the whole idea of art as action. To see art actualized in the world.

It’s a radical idea, when you think about it, because often, artists are seen as outsiders from culture. So, despite the mid-20th Century ideas of bringing social change to the forefront of everyday culture, in fact, change and transformation through the arts are not talked about that much. But I think that art itself calls us to return to that language of being engaged with culture, and a leading catalyst for cultural change.