Fujitsuka Shosei - Cosmos

FUJITSUK A S H OSE I COSMOS

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ONE OF THE F IRST T HINGS I L E A R NED ABOUT FUJI TSUKA SHOSE I was that he had installed a high-powered telescope on the roof of his house. In the back of a taxicab in Oiso, on my way to meet him for the first time, I heard the story of how TAI Gallery helped convince Fujitsuka to show in Santa Fe by extolling the clarity and vastness of New Mexico’s skies. In his home studio, snugged comfortably next to a garden, stores of susutake (aged, smoked bamboo) and bundles of bamboo in various states of preparation share space with the artist’s photographs of the stellar landscape.

I was therefore not surprised when Fujitsuka said that the baskets and sculptures he had been making for his upcoming exhibition at TAI Modern were all inspired by the cosmos. I was astonished, though, and deeply impressed by how well he paired theme and medium — a pairing that could so easily have felt awkward or unbalanced. Only an artist of Fujitsuka’s technical mastery and nuanced creative vision could have married the intangible allure of deep space to the sensual, terrestrial beauty of bamboo. Throughout history, human beings have looked to the sky for answers to essential questions about how and why we are here. The study of the stars, as mathematician and physicist Henri Poincaré put it,“has given us a soul capable of comprehending nature.”

Many of the works in Cosmos utilize Fujitsuka’s original technique of cutting bamboo strips into triangular shapes, dyeing each face a different color, and arranging them closely in parallel. As the viewer orbits the resulting piece, colors transform and the moiré effect generates a vibrating energy. Anyone familiar with the fugitive, shifting glow of the Northern Lights will recognize the inspiration for Aurora’s cascade of angled green rays. In the open plaiting of Comet and Cosmos, streaks of purple and orange spiral out from the hearts of the vessels like the tails of comets against the night sky. Fujitsuka achieves the expressive lines of sculptures like Galaxy and Stephan’s Quintet by heating hobichiku (smoked dwarf bamboo) over an open flame and painstakingly bending the bamboo stalk into shapes that reference distant galaxies.

Celestial, 2014, 6 × 16.5 × 17 inches (detail)

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Born in Hokkaido in 1949, Fujitsuka moved at the age of seven with his family to the seaside town of Oiso, where he still lives today. After high school, he worked for a record producer and a company that serviced optical equipment. Unhappy with the restrictive corporate environment, the artist longed for a more fulfilling career. In 1972, he quit his job to begin an apprenticeship with Baba Shodo, a pioneer of sculptural bamboo art.

For the next 21years, as he honed his craft, Fujitsuka supported himself and his family by making bamboo lampshades. Winning the Superior Prize at the Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition allowed him to devote himself fulltime to making art. Fujitsuka has been honored with television appearances, prizes, and solo and group exhibitions in Asia, Europe, and the United States. His work is in the collections of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs and the Japan Foundation. ­n

Margo Thoma, TAI Modern

Waves at Sunset, 2014, 1 × 12.75 × 9 inches

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Galaxy, 2014, 28 × 32 × 8 inches

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ARTIST STATEMENT “Faintly - lit Cascading Milky Way, Orion and Pleiades making rhythmical sounds…”

The above quote is my favorite section of a Japanese song written by Keizo Horiuchi called Fuyuno Seiza (“Winter Astronomy”).

All of a sudden, one day, an oscillating long-tailed comet appears in the dark sky.

As if stars broke through the celestial curtain, the meteor shower pours down creating a fantastic curtain of light, an Aurora.

The Milky Way and Nebula also express themselves by forming multiple configurations and colors.

All of these constellations together create such amazing beauty that it makes me speechless.

I am filled with a feeling of contentment when I spend my time observing these beautiful stars scattered in the evening sky.

As I learn how space was created and has developed, I reflect upon human life and how fragile our lives are.

Life has been forming on Earth for many centuries. I believe that all life originated in the stars, and will go back to the stars in the end.

One day, I will also return to the Nebula.

This is my second exhibition in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I work with bamboo every day, and through this medium, I express the celestial world which I consider to be the foundation of my life.

I would like to convey to viewers, through the observation of this alluring material, how precious life is, and to think about the beautiful stars and sublime cosmic space. ­n

Fujitsuka Shosei, June 2014

Orion Nebula, photographed by Fujitsuka Shosei

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Celestial, 2014, 6 Ă— 16.5 Ă— 17 inches

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Milky Way, 2009, 6.75 × 19 × 7 inches

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Above: Comet, 2014, 11.25 × 14.5 × 14.5 inches Right: Aurora, 2014,15.5 × 10 × 8.5 inches

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~∞, 2014,10.25 × 23 × 13.5 inches

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Clouds at Dusk, 1996, 3 × 9.5 × 12 inches

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Rosette Nebula, 2014,10 Ă— 14 Ă— 14 inches

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FUJITSUK A S HOSEI 1949

Born in Hokkaido, Japan

1972

Apprenticed to Baba Shodo (one of the pioneers in bamboo sculpture)

1973

Admitted to Kanagawa Prefecture Art Exhibition

1974

Moved to Oiso, Kanagawa and became independent

1978

Admitted to the Modern Craft Arts Exhibition

1984

Admitted to the Japan Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition, Eastern Division

1985

Admitted to the Japan Traditional Craft Arts Wood and Bamboo Exhibition Appeared on the TVK Television show, Visiting Artists

1990

Appeared on the CNN Television show, Japan This Week

1991

Admitted to the Japan Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition

1992

Winner, The Encouragement Award, Japan Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition, Eastern Division Solo Exhibition, Hiratsuka Gallery, Hiratsuka, Japan

1993

Received the Superior Prize at the Japan Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition Appeared on the NHK Television show, Sunday Art Gallery Became a full member of the Japan Traditional Craft Arts Association Solo Exhibition, Hiratsuka Gallery, Hiratsuka, Japan

1994

Received The Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Award Solo Exhibition, Shishiza Gallery, Japan

1995

Received The Kanagawa Newspaper Award at the Kanagawa Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition Solo Exhibition, Hiratsuka Gallery, Hiratsuka, Japan

1996

Group Exhibition, Ginza Wako, Tokyo, Japan The Contemporary Japanese Craft Arts Traveling Exhibition Solo Exhibition, Umeya, Japan

1998

Group Exhibition, Ginza Wako, Tokyo, Japan Group Exhibition, Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan Group Exhibition, Bamboo Craft Arts, 13th Asia Memorial Convention, Thailand

1999

Solo Exhibition, Ginza Wako, Tokyo, Japan Group Exhibition,“100 Meilleures Objets d’Art Contemporains au Japon,” Mitsukoshi Etoile, Paris, France Group Exhibtion, Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan

2000

Group Exhibition,“Bamboo Fantasies,” TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico Group Exhibition,“The Next Generation,” University of Arkansas, Little Rock

2003 Group Exhibition,“The Classic Japanese Basket,” TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico Group Exhibition, The Hand Workshop Art Center, Richmond, Virginia 2005

Two - person Exhibition, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico Group Exhibition, “Weavers of Wonder,” Naples Museum of Art, Florida Invitational Show, “Tanabata Ten,” Hiratsuka City Museum, Kanagawa, Japan

2006

Group Exhibition, “Power & Delicacy,” TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico Group Exhibition, “Hin: The Quiet Beauty of Japanese Bamboo Art,” Grinnell College, Iowa Group Exhibition, “Hin: The Quiet Beauty of Japanese Bamboo Art,” Chicago Cultural Center, Illinois Collaboration with Daniel Ost, “Nocturne,” Brussels, Belgium Invitational Show, “Take no Zo,” Nakatomi Museum of Contemporary Craft, Fukui, Japan

2007

Group Exhibition,“Beyond Basketry: Japanese Bamboo Art,”

2008

Three - person Exhibition, “A Sensei and His Students,”

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico Group Exhibition, “New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters,” The Japan Society, New York City 2009

Encouragement Award, the Japan Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition Group Exhibition, “Many Shapes of Bamboo III,” Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Japan

2011

Tokyo Governor’s Prize, 58th Japan Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition

2012

Awarded the “Purple Ribbon” by the Japanese Congress for lifetime achievement in the arts, presented by the Emperor of Japan.

2013

Group Exhibition, “Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo,” Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

2014

Solo Exhibition,“Cosmos,” TAI Modern, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Museum Collections: Asian Art Museum, San Francisco Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs Japan Foundation, New York City Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Philadelphia Museum of Art Back Cover: Stephan’s Quintet, 2014, 49.5 × 11.5 × 7.25 inches

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