October, 2001

"In these new paintings I use a semi-transparent layering effect that traps light between the pigments and layers of gold or silver foil. This creates a 'grace arena' in which the captured light creates space. The result is neither the Renaissance system of creating pictorial depth through perspective nor is it the Modernist emphasis on the surface space. This approach creates the effect of space rising and falling through these veils of pigment, like in a stained-glass window. In Gravity and Grace, Simone Weil states that there are only two operating forces in the world: one of gravity and the other, grace. This tension is precisely what I am trying to capture with these paintings."

Fujimura also believes that living and working in the "ground zero" area of Manhattan has intensified his search for meaning. "The Twin Towers,"he wrote recently, "were twin symbols of capitalism and materialism."Until September 11th, artists here worked both literally and figuratively in the shadows of these symbols. The devastation caused by the catastrophe created a hallowed sense of the presence of a greater than that of our so-called post-modern world."

"We now begin to realize," Fujimura notes, "what we do is only temporary and indefinable. Incomplete gestures must be made, because reality beckons us to respond. Beauty, however peripheral, insists that we remain faithful to who we are, as we are."