Makoto FUJIMURA: Charis《天恩》

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Makoto FUJIMURA
Charis

12 December – 23 January 2010

Gallery EXIT is pleased to present Charis, the first solo exhibition of Makoto FIJIMURA in Hong Kong. The center piece Charis is a monumental gold composition over 3 meters in width which shows the significance of Fujimura's most powerful work. "Charis"; is the Greek word that St. Paul used for "grace", 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, drawing us into the glory built into them.

Makoto FUJIMURA was born in 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts. He received a M.F.A. from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with a Japanese Governmental Scholarship in 1989. 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.

It was during the six and a half years of studying in Japan that Fujimura began to assimilate the combinations of abstract expressionism explored in the US with the traditional Japanese art of Nihonga. After 20 years as a successful artist in Japan and the U.S., Fujimura has become a voice of bi-cultural authority on the nature and cultural assessment of beauty, by both creating it and exploring its forms. His paintings address the creative process and explore what it means to see. The work moves the observer from cognitive categorization to visceral experience.
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Makoto FUJIMURA
《天恩》

2010年12月12日至1月23日

安全口畫廊將舉行Makoto FUJIMURA的首個香港個人展覽《天恩》(Charis)。這次展覽的重點作品《天恩》是闊達三米的巨大黃金畫作，顯示了Fujimura最具代表性的作品風格和特色。「Charis」(天恩)是「charisma」的縮寫，源自希臘文字，意即天賦的魅力；聖保羅曾引之為「恩典」的意思。藝術是天賦的才能，而藝術本身便是恩典。Fujimura對金與礦物的顏料效果進行深入研究，為了提高物料折射光線的可能性，同時也令我們感受到作品的壯麗特質。

Makoto FUJIMURA在1960年美國麻薩諸塞州波士頓市出生。在取得日本政府頒發的獎學金後，1989年畢業於東京藝術大學的藝術碩士課程。東京藝術大學收藏了他的畢業作品並邀請他繼續深造日本畫博士課程，他是首位就讀此項著名傳統課程的日裔異鄉人。

在日本學習的六年半裡，Fujimura開始融合美國抽象表現主義和傳統「日本画」學派。Fujimura在日本及美國成為知名畫家達20年，他是兩種文化於美學及文化審美範疇裡的權威人物，不斷創作和探討美的形態。他的繪畫強調嚴緊的製作過程及探索創作的深層意義，將觀眾從表面的認知引領到內心深處的體驗。