Gajin Fujita

Press Release

Japanese-American artist Gajin Fujita is to present a series of new panel
paintings and works on paper in Pacific Tsunami, his first UK solo show at
Haunch of Venison London.

Born and raised in LA, Fujita’s work is greatly informed by the artist’s own
cultural heritage and background - large-scale paintings present graffiti
overlaid with stylised geisha women, samurai warriors, flowers and animals,
motifs from contemporary Japanese cartoons and imagery from American
Hip-Hop culture.

As with traditional graffiti the works are produced in layers; semi-precious
metals including white gold and gold leaf are applied to wooden panels.
These are then obliterated with graffiti, spray-painted by the artist and his
crew who contribute with their tags and bombs, more usually seen daubed
over empty walls and adorning public transport throughout the city. Finally,
a composition of stencilled figures, animals and motifs inspired by
traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e imagery is laid over the top.

Dating back to the early 17th century, the woodblock imagery of Ukiyo-e
sought to express an idealisation of contemporary urban life and typically
depicts city life, featuring beautiful courtesans, bulky sumo wrestlers and
actors. Fujita’s stenciled and hand-drawn figures also relate directly to
Shunga, a branch of Ukiyo-e which sought to express sexual desire, and
some of the figures in Fujita’s works brazenly present sexually explicit acts
and pornographic imagery.

The stencils used in the works are most often fashioned by the artist,
created from cut-out drawings that he makes on paper. Once the painting to
which each is allied has been completed, Fujita continues to work on these
studies to give them independent stature. The exhibition will include a
selection of both small and large scale works on paper.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with a text on the artist’s new body of work from critic Pernilla Holmes. The exhibition, Las Vegas Diaspora: Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland curated by Dave Hickey, includes work from Gajin Fujita, and is on view at the Laguna Art Museum until 1 June 08.

For further information and images please contact: Claire Walsh
Call +44 (0) 20 7936 1296 or email cwalsh@brunswickgroup.com