Makoto Fujimura © Alyson LeCroy
Makoto Fujimura (born 1960), born in Boston, USA, currently residing in New Jersey, is a Japanese-American artist known as a "Light Walker" and cultural shaper. He is not only a highly acclaimed international artist but also the first to propose viewing the cultural environment as an organic ecosystem and actively promotes the concept of "culture care." He was the first non-Japanese national to receive a scholarship from Japan and was selected to study at Tokyo University of the Arts. He was favored by Kayama Matazo (1927-2004), a master of the Rinpa school, who accepted him as an apprentice.
Fujimura is a contemporary abstract expressionist painter known for his spiritual depth and intellectual insight. His work integrates Eastern and Western artistic essences, with themes encompassing repair and renewal amid a turbulent world, celebrating the tranquility and blooming of life. Through the slow use of mineral media, he expresses a refined and colorful subtlety. Influenced by both Japanese and American art education, his creations fuse American abstract expressionism and Japanese nihonga techniques while insisting on using precious natural materials such as mineral pigments, gold and silver leaf, century-old ink, and silk.
He contemplates and cares for the "ecological environment," paying tribute to all crafts and artisans. Simultaneously, he transcends temporal, spatial, and formal limitations, surpassing cultural boundaries between East and West to establish a new hybrid language that communicates with audiences. His works have been exhibited widely in North America, Europe, and Asia and are highly respected in artistic and cultural circles.
From 2003 to 2009, Fujimura was invited by the U.S. President to serve as a member of the National Council on the Arts, providing consultation on art policies and participating in selecting recipients of national art awards. He advocates that art must possess spiritual guidance and humanistic care.
He has authored books such as Art + Faith, Culture Care, and Silence and Beauty to elaborate his philosophies. In addition to creating art, he actively practices his beliefs by founding IAM Culture Care (formerly International Arts Movement), a nonprofit organization that gathers artists to explore important issues related to art, faith, and humanity. He has been involved in events such as memorials for the Columbine High School massacre, post-3/11 disaster reconstruction in Japan, and relief efforts in Indian slums, extending the mission of art into cultural and human care activities.
Collections
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
The Sato Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo, Japan
Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
Nerima Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Kikkoman Corporation, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio, USA
Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri, USA
Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, USA
Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, California, USA
Oxford House, CNN/Time Warner Building, Taikoo Place, Hong Kong
Tamaya Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
Sanbi-Shosho Collection (donated to Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in 2008), Tokyo, Japan
Gordon College, Massachusetts, USA
New Haven Christ Presbyterian Church, Connecticut, USA
Shim & Associates P.C. Law Firm, New York, USA
Cairn University, Pennsylvania, USA
Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, Israel
Solo Exhibitions
2025, Transfiguration, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2024, Mysterion, The Galleries at First Presbyterian, Greenville, SC, USA
2023, ARC Conference, London, UK
2023, My Bright Abyss: Paintings & Prints, Bradford Gallery, Nashville, TN, USA
2023, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Redeemer University Art Gallery, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
2022, New Vista – A Theology of Making, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, USA
2021, Re-membrance, High Line Nine Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2021, Candid in May, Morpeth Gallery, Hopewell, NJ, USA
2019, Sea Beyond, Waterfall Mansion & Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2019, Song of Songs, Artrue International Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2018, The Beauty of Silence, Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, Israel
2016, November Flowers, Sukiwa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016, Silence and Beauty, Waterfall Mansion Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2015, Golden Sea, Ahmanson Gallery, Irvine, CA, USA
2015, A Glimpse of Splendor, Artrue Beaux Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
2015, Fire and Water, Artrue Beaux Arts and Galerie Huit, Hong Kong
2015, Aroma, Artrue Beaux Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
Museum Exhibitions
2024, Water Flames, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, California, USA
2023, A Gaze Traverses Time and Space: Dialogue between Makoto Fujimura and Chinese Ancient Porcelain, C3M North Bund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2023, Shin Japanese Painting: Revolutionary Nihonga, Pola Museum of Art, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
2023, Water Flames and Walking on Water, Oak Hill & the Martha Berry Museum, Berry College, Georgia, USA
2023, Contemporary Nihonga, Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
2020, George Rouault and Japan: A Shared Spirit and Sense of Art, Panasonic Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2019, Silence and Beauty Retrospective, Gonzaga University Jundt Museum, Spokane, Washington, USA
2018, Beauty of Silence Retrospective, Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, Israel
2016, A New Year’s Exhibit, Isetan Museum, Niigata, Japan, with Yokoyama Taikan, Kaii Higashiyama, and other Nihonga masters
2011, On Eagles’ Wings: The King James Bible Turns 400, MOBIA (Museum of Biblical Art), New York, USA
The Luminous Chapter 2025.09.28– 2026.04.06 The Formative Chapter 2026.04.15– 2026.08.30