at the kemper: zephyr, paintings by gajin fujita.

[chrizow]

http://kemperart.org/exhibits/upcoming.asp

http://www.lalouver.com/html/gajin.html


last night i went (solo) to an art opening at the Kemper. the artist, gajin fujita, was present and provided an amusing slide show and explanation of his work. it was excellent.

i felt bad for mr. fujita, however, as he was pimped and photographed by all the beaming old rich wine-swilling sweater-wearing arts patrons. ("victor, come be photograped with the artist!") mr. fujita clearly felt out of place at his own opening, which i suppose is not uncommon.

i had a great time though. i drank free Boulevard Pale Ale, looked at art, and silently ridiculed the pretentious crowd while simultaneously applauding the fact that so many people were there.

as you can see by the photo below, mr. fujita blends LA-style graffiti with edo-period japanese figures. sometimes, as seen below, he appropriates sports logos or gang signs to reference "loyalty" or "allegiance" (or, more colloquially, "representin") which are highly relevant to japanese samurai culture, la gang culture, team sports, human relations, friends, and on and on. (i swear i am not getting this out of the exhibition catalog, which i refused to purchase for $10).

go check it out!

the "la louver" site above has many photos of his work.