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A Conservative Artist on Arts and Culture (archived from Townhall.com)

An interview with Makoto Fujimura
Nov 29, 2005
by Erik Lokkesmoe

Renowned painter, writer, and cultural thinker Makoto Fujimura was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve a six-year term on the National Council on the Arts. His paintings combine abstract expressionism with the traditional Japanese art of Nihonga. Fujimura is the youngest artist ever to have had a piece acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. In 1990, he founded The International Arts Movement (IAM), a non-profit organization committed to the renewal of arts and culture. Vice President Dick Cheney and Mrs. Cheney will feature one of Mako’s paintings on their 2005 Christmas card.

Townhall.com columnist Erik Lokkesmoe recently talked with Mako about art, culture, and the wonders of creativity.

Erik Lokkesmoe, Townhall.com: Thanks for spending a few moments with us, Mako.

Mako Fujimura: Sure. My delight.

Townhall: What's on your mind these days?

MF: I just went to see the Fra Angelico exhibit at the Met. So I've been thinking a lot about what kind of art survives five hundred years . . .

Townhall: You are a conservative, and you are an artist. For many, that is like saying “flat mountain” or “icy hot.” There is this perception that being a conservative somehow limits imagination and artistry. Does this ever come up in your interactions with fellow artists?

MF: I am sure I am an enigma to my friends who are artists and who are conservatives. I now spend much time advocating for artists, but I am also very critical of the art world and her systemic ills. But my first priority is to create, and that is the best way for me to communicate what I am and what I am passionate about.

Townhall: You've said that your parents nurtured your creativity as a child. It strikes me that all children are naturally creative. They build worlds. They color for hours. They create forts out of sheets and sofa cushions. They love stories and songs. Then, something happens. In some, creativity continues. In others, it seems to wither. Was there a moment when you realized: this -– an artist -– is who I am made to be? And how can one nurture life-long creativity?

MF: I was very fortunate to have parents who valued creativity. When I went to college, I realized, for the first time, that I had to protect my own creative time. I had to choose to make sure I took classes in art and poetry (especially creative writing) to develop and grow in my expressions. That's a good question you ask -- about how to nurture life-long creativity. It probably takes a community who act like my parents: to make certain that all members of that group are growing creatively, as well as spiritually, and educationally, even without being conscious of it.

Townhall: Tell me about your style of painting, its roots and traditions.

MF: I spent six-and-a-half years studying the art of Nihonga in Tokyo, which is a thousand year tradition that uses minerals, gold, silver and sumi ink on Japanese paper or silk. I discovered, though, as a Japanese American, I could meld these influences into what I had experienced in 20th century art of Rothko, Gorky and the abstract expressionists. So I hope to create works that are new and old at the same time.

Townhall: You import your paper. You use mineral pigments, often from semi-precious stones that must be crushed and ground. The preparation for a painting appears difficult, time-consuming. How important to you and to the painting is this process? Is it a time of inspiration or frustration?

MF: It's all about the process to me. Yes, it's both frustrating and inspiring at the same time. It's also collaboration with Japanese paper makers and mineral merchants who grind them initially for me, so I can adjust and fine tune them to suit my expression here in NYC.

I realize now that the slow process of drying forces me to deal with the 500 year question, rather than 5 year, or even the 50 year question: that is to extend time itself in my work, so the viewer can experience something that is not multi-phrenic sound bites. I consider this to be one of the key elements of my calling.

Townhall: Suppose someone walks into your studio for the first time. What are they going to see? What will surprise them?

MF: They may be surprised to see that it is rather small! I just moved up to a smaller studio in the same building in TriBeCa. I had been sharing a very large studio with Hiroshi Senju, who went to the same graduate program in Tokyo. He built a huge studio in Pleasantville, and I decided to take a smaller space.

But it is very intimate and I can still paint in a large-scale way that allows me to paint my recent Water Flames paintings. It, to me, is a devotional space, which I can dedicate to the task of integrating my art to my faith.

Townhall: Your studio is close to Ground Zero in New York City. Your son, school-age at the time, was covered in, as you describe it, “the dust of death” from the fall of the towers. Your family, your neighborhood, your city felt the full weight of death and destruction. One can predict how you responded as a father and husband and neighbor –- to comfort, to reassure, to serve. But what about your calling as an artist? What is the response of the artist in such moments?

MF: The first thing I must say about that day is how feeble were my prayers, my own response was, to the tragedy. I felt utterly powerless to do anything. And to ask what I can do as an artist seemed ludicrous at the time.

But if you are an artist, you think about these matters: just as Tolkien imagined in the literal hell of the front line of the war how to develop a language of hope in desperate times (and thus wrote the Lord of the Rings), artists seem to be given a call to use their imaginations to re-engage with tragedy and ashes. When I wrote "The Fallen Towers and the Art of Tea" these thoughts were swirling in my mind.

Townhall: What is the chief role of the artist in today's culture?

MK: Artists need to lead in the stewardship of culture, to mediate our experiences to help us understand ourselves. Artists need to be truthful, authentic to this moment but also infuse hope, a 500-year vision into the world.

Townhall: Tell me about the International Arts Movement. Why was it created? What purpose does it serve?

MF: I believe IAM exists to help shape this authentic, and a hopeful, 500-year vision into culture, to bring about a dialogue of reconciliation, and mediation in culture. It began when I desired to integrate my life as an artist with my faith journey. I felt called to mediate between the church and the arts communities and be a catalyst for cultural renewal. I also realized that artists are alienated from the church, and have few spiritual resources to know how to reconcile their inner tensions. We are having our fifteen-year anniversary conference coming up with wonderful speakers, like Dana Gioia, the current chair of National Endowment for the Arts, and I hear we are going to have a wonderful MC for the event!

Townhall: Most people are insecure about art. They don't know what to look for, what defines good art, and so on. It feels intimidating -- especially when children and animals are now selling their creations for big money. Are there any objective universal truths that make some art better than others, or is it all subjective, a matter of personal taste?

MF: What I try to encourage people to do is to look at a work of art, and spend some time with it. Many people do not simply look at art and we need to recover the art of seeing, almost with the wonderment of a child. We are so locked in to our 9-5 world (me too!) that we cease to observe and notice things and ask questions.

Just like wine, or learning French, it takes time to develop and cultivate our cultural language. And I often find myself speaking to ordinary folks about issues that concern them, or that they are passionate about, and I find that they are really already engaged in artful activities. As a culture, we have not done well to cultivate these impulses into tangible, lasting product of art. We seemed to be obsessed with the newest fad, but do not think ahead to see the responsibility of culture at large.

I would say also that some of the most beautiful art is found in unexpected places in America, like guitars made in a small shop in the Ozarks, or collaborative rap pieces made in urban ghettos. There are plenty of ways to invest in developing your own engagement with art.

Townhall: We all have our personal tastes. You, however, as a member of the National Council on the Arts, are required to have a public taste as well. Recently, a newspaper article reflected on the historic role pop culture played in uniting Americans. Generations grew up listening to the Beatles. Everyone saw Godfather or Rocky. Today, however, the culture is fractured, splintered, a thousand separate subcultures each with its own music, movies, and magazines. In such a climate, what will it take to unite people around great art?

MF: Unfortunately, the fine arts arena has been desperately lacking in a unified vision. We are paying for that now, as popular culture is affected by lack of historical perspective that fine arts can bring. The National Endowment for the Arts exists to be a catalyst for artistic stewardship for all of Americans. We need to find a balance between being a careful guardian of culture, and encouraging collaborative, new expressions.

I recommend, for those who want to learn more about the arts, to see Rivers and Tides, Thomas Riedelsheimer's documentary on Andy Goldsworthy's remarkable works. Goldsworthy deals collaboratively with nature, regional history and the ephemeral nature of art, giving us a glimpse into 21st century art.

We are living in a pluralistic time with multiple influences and cultures. What may bring us together is the acknowledgment that there is not a cohesive, linear structure that gives us black and white stories, but we need to agree to discover the nuanced subtleties of the complexity of our time. In my works, light refracts, via minerals, giving our eye to experience the fullness of colors and hues. The current Fra Angelico exhibit at the Met, reminds us that such complexity and beauty has its origins in the medieval to early Renaissance. These works, painted in the 1400's elevate our eyes to renew how we view the confused, fragmented landscape of our 21st century condition. These works “wash our feet” and infuse us with hope. Again, This kind of perspective is cultivated by delving into a 500-year vision for art that gives us a certain perspective that pop culture does not give us.

As Thomas Friedman alludes to in Flat World, much of our information technology resources have been outsourced to India, China and other parts of the world. We have now entered what many have called the Creative Age. In other words, the greatest resource we have, which cannot be outsourced, is creativity. In the Creative Age, our leadership in the global scene needs to speak into the splintered, divisive voids. We have to ask ourselves: what are we exporting to the world as a nation? Are we exporting Super Bowl half time shows with Janet Jackson with her malfunctioning outfit (broadcast live in China for the first time two years ago), or the great fruit of democracy like jazz, or modern dance? We are all cultural ambassadors, and have a responsibility to lead in the world. We need a complex web of collaborative expressions today. These expressions need to be community-driven and connect the urban realities with regional, agrarian realities, taking full advantage of the rich diversity of the American cultural landscape. This is possible to do, in my opinion, best in the democratic milieu of multiple influences and historical ties.

Townhall: Speaking of leaders, I hear the Vice President and Mrs. Cheney are fans of your paintings.

MF: Mrs. Cheney has given me a tour of their home, and I was very impressed with their collection. They have a major Frankenthaler, Milton Avery and other significant works on display. They have asked me to design their Christmas card, and I was delighted to do so. It is a single dove in flight, painted with crushed oyster shell white on top of a gold background with Japanese vermillion peaking through. Ms. Cheney also has one of my white columbine paintings on loan, hanging in her office. These works are really prayers: prayers for shalom peace to descend upon our world.

Townhall: Thanks for talking with us, Mako. Wild, untamed blessings on you and your work.

MF: You are welcome!

Erik Lokkesmoe is an author, speechwriter, and the founder of Brewing Culture, an arts and media non-profit.
Copyright © 2005 Townhall.com