December 2009 Archives
Through Fujimura, New York Produces its Bible
The commission is an illuminated manuscript designed and illustrated by Fujimura, published by Crossway to commemorate the four hundred year anniversary of The King James Bible. The leather-bound English Standard Version of the four Gospels, printed with a six-color metallic process, will be released January 2011. Five major new works by Fujimura will be reproduced before each gospel and on the frontispiece, making this the first such manuscript featuring abstract contemporary art in lieu of traditional representational illustrations. This unprecedented marriage of a modern, usually secular art form with ancient scripture is what most interests Fujimura, who aims to depict “the greater reality that the Bible speaks of... for the pure sake of integrating faith and art in our current pluralistic, multicultural world.”
The artist is quintessentially multicultural. Born in Boston to Japanese parents, Fujimura lived in three countries before the age of ten. While attending school in Japan and the US, he met and married an American woman, then became a New Yorker. He is both culturally and literally bilingual, a seasoned navigator of the uneasy overlap between East and West. But he also traverses the deeper divide between the art world and the church. As an Artist and a Christian rather than a Christian Artist, Fujimura is Crossway’s ideal candidate, an individual defined by the very juxtapositions this Bible will display.
Fujimura’s work also fits the commission. As a student of Nihonga, a Japanese technique dating to the 8th century, Fujimura and his classmates at the Tokyo University of Fine Art set out to “[break] with tradition in order to revitalize and expand the art form,” according to Dillon. Fujimura created an “entirely new approach to Nihonga,” a synthesis between traditional and modern techniques.
Fujimura is not alone in his complexity. Sociologist Tony Carnes sees Fujimura as part of a “global religious transformation,” the result of blurring lines between mainstream and religious culture. Another recent illustrated manuscript, Genesis, by decidedly secular illustrator R. Crumb, is evidence of this shift. Fujimura also recognizes this movement, saying “the Age of Faith is coming.” This illuminated manuscript, painted in Midtown Manhattan by a cultural navigator like Fujimura, will be further affirmation. “Jesus is a New Yorker,” Carnes says. “And he’s got an illustrated Bible.”
(Click here to download a PDF of this press release from Crossway.)
Susie Ibarra Selected for 2010 TED Fellowship
The TED2010 Fellows reflect both geographic and discipline diversity. From Israel to Brazil to Malaysia, these innovators excel in the technology, entertainment, design, science, film, art, music, entrepreneurship and nonprofit worlds. The group also includes filmmakers, engineers, artists, scientists and musicians.
"We are thrilled to embark upon our second year of the TED Fellows program with these 25 individuals. They represent a spectacular concentration of cross-disciplinary talent in the arts and sciences, entrepreneurship and engineering, education and new journalism. We look forward to their contributions to the TED community and the amazing collaborations that are sure to occur among them," said Tom Rielly, TED Fellows director.
In addition to participating as full members of the TED2010 conference audience, each TED Fellow will participate in a two-day pre-conference, where they will receive world-class communication training, deliver a short TEDTalk, and collaborate with their peers, among other benefits. The Fellows will also participate in the TED community throughout the next year, by telling their ongoing stories on the TED Fellows blog, being featured in the online Fellows directory and participating in a private social network.
The TED Fellows program seeks individuals of age 21-40 (though anyone over age 18 is eligible) who demonstrate remarkable achievement in their field of endeavor. The program focuses on candidates from five regions: Asia/Pacific, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East. The TED Fellows program is made possible by the visionary support of the Bezos family, Sherpalo Ventures, the Harnisch Foundation, the Case Foundation, private donors and Nokia.
Meet the TED2010 Fellows:
Mubarak Abdullahi (Nigeria/UK) - Aircraftengineer who, at 24, built a homemade helicopter out of old car and bike parts
Milena Boniolo (Brazil) - Chemistand PhD student at Federal University of Sao Carlos, Brazil, who is developing methods to detect emerging contaminants in the environment
Premesh Chandran (Malaysia) - Co-founder and CEO of Malaysiakini.com, an independent Malaysian news website
Perry Chen (US) - Co-founder and CEO of Kickstarter.com, a web platform offering people a new way to fund their creative ideas and endeavors
Anita Doron (Ukraine/Israel/Canada) - Surrealist filmmaker and documentarian
Ndubuisi Ekekwe (Nigeria/US) - Engineer, inventor, author and founder of the African Institution of Technology, an organization seeking to develop microelectronics in Africa
Saeed Taji Farouky (UK/Palestine) - Documentary filmmaker, photographer and writer focusing on human rights in the Middle East and North Africa
Jessica Green (US) - Professor at the University of Oregon's Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, whose research focuses on microbial diversity
Benjamin Gulak (Canada/US) - Inventor of the Uno, a "green" electric street bike, and founder of BPG Motors
Robert Gupta (US) - Violinist and youngest member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic whose area of study also included neurobiology
Cesar Harada (Japan/France/UK) - Coordinator of the Open_Sailing project, working to develop open-source technologies to intelligently inhabit the oceans
Susie Ibarra (US/Philippines) - Composer, percussionist and co-founder of Song of the Bird King, a production company using music and film to preserve indigenous culture and ecology
Jennifer Indovina (US) - Founder of Tenrehte Technologies, a semiconductor company developing wireless smart-grid applications
Mitchell Joachim (US/Canada) - Architect and co-founder of Terreform ONE + Terrefuge, non-profit design groups that promote ecological design in cities
Raffael Lomas (Israel) - Sculptor and teacher of creative visual workshops for the blind
Kate Nichols (US) - Artist-in-residence at the Alivisatos Lab who synthesizes nanoparticles that exhibit structural color and incorporates them into macroscale art pieces
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Pakistan/Canada) - Documentary filmmaker and founder of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan, an educational institution and heritage center established to preserve Pakistan's history.
Sarah Jane Pell (Australia) - Artist-researcher, diver and founder of Aquabatics Research Team initiative (ARTi)
Manu Prakash(India/US) - Junior Fellow at Harvard Society of Fellows, physicist and inventor pursuing research in the field of physical biology
Kellee Santiago (US) -President and co-founder of thatgamecompany, a video game company working to create games that communicate unique emotional experiences
Durreen Shahnaz (Bangladesh/Singapore/US) - Founder and Chairperson of Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX), a social stock exchange for Social Enterprises to raise growth capital
Gavin Sheppard(Canada) -Founder of I.C. Visions and co-founder of The Remix Project, a youth program acting as an arts and cultural incubator in Toronto, Canada
Hugo Van Vuuren (South Africa/US) - Fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Fellow at The Laboratory at Harvard, co-founder of Lebone - asocial enterprise working on off-grid technologies
Angelo Vermeulen (Belgium) - Biologist, filmmaker, and visual artist creating large-scale collaborative art installations
Daniel Zoughbie (US) - Founder and CEO of the Global Micro-Clinic Project (GMCP), an organization working to prevent and manage diseases in the developing world using low-cost behavioral interventions
Details on each Fellow and the program are available at www.ted.com/fellows. To support the program, or to receive more information, please contact Logan McClure at +1 212.346.9333 or via email at fellows@ted.com. Follow the TED Fellows blog at http://tedfellows.posterous.com.
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where three exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action, and TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world. Follow TED on Twitter, twitter.com/tedtalks, or on Facebook, www.facebook.com/TED
TED2010, "What the World Needs Now," will be held Feb. 9-13, 2010, in Long Beach, California, along with TEDActive, a simulcast conference of TED2010, in Palm Springs, California. TEDGlobal 2010, "And Now the Good News," will be held July 13-16, 2010, in Oxford, UK.
Mako's "Charis" Opens Tomorrow in Hong Kong
Makoto FUJIMURA: Charis
2009.12.12 - 2010.01.23
Opening reception: Saturday, December 12, 5-7 pm
Location: Gallery EXIT, G/F, 1 Shin Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong
Gallery opening hours: Mon - Sat, 1100 -1900
Website: www.galleryexit.com
Gallery EXIT is pleased to present Charis, the first solo exhibition of Makoto Fujimura in Hong Kong. The center piece Charis is a monumental gold composition over 3 meters in width which shows the significance of Fujimura's most powerful work. "Charis" is the Greek word that St. Paul used for "grace," shorthand for the word "charisma," which means gift. Art is a gift, and essentially, art is grace. The more Fujimura journeys deeply into the effects of gold and mineral pigments, the more he is taken by the refractive possibilities of the materials, while at the same time, drawing us into the glory built into them.
Makoto FUJIMURA was born in 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts. He received a M.F.A. from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with a Japanese Governmental Scholarship in 1989. His thesis painting was purchased by the University and he was invited to study in the Japanese Painting Doctorate program, a first for an outsider to this prestigious traditional program.
It was during the six and a half years of studying in Japan that Fujimura began to assimilate the combinations of abstract expressionism explored in the US with the traditional Japanese art of Nihonga. After 20 years as a successful artist in Japan and the U.S., Fujimura has become a voice of bi-cultural authority on the nature and cultural assessment of beauty, by both creating it and exploring its forms. His paintings address the creative process and explore what it means to see. The work moves the observer from cognitive categorization to visceral experience.
The artist will be present at the artist talk and opening reception. There is still limited seasts left for the artist talk on December 12, 3:30 - 4:30pm. Please RSVP as soon as possible. For more information, please contact Doris Wong at the gallery at 2541 1299 or email info@galleryexit.com.
IAM's Maureen Lovett Warms Charlottesville
Maureen Lovett is part of the leadership of New City Arts Initiative, IAM's affiliate group in Charlottesville, VA. This Friday, she will open a solo exhibition in Charlottesville that was inspired, in part, by this essay by Nicholas Wolterstorff about the value of craft. Here is a bit of what Maureen says about her show (via her Artist's Statement):
"These banners explore a common language to name both the sacred and the profane. Rather than keeping our faults in the dark while esteeming our achievements, these praises and defeats acknowledge the co-existence of glory and mistake—to identify each as true. By abandoning the exclusive use of proclamation for celebration, these flags describe the character of both the sanctuary and the cul-de-sac, considering a way to lessen the margin between the church and daily life.
The garage's covering is the most bold and merciful layer. The knitting gracefully covers and triumphantly states its claim over both the exaltations and the faults of the space—or neighbor, community association, local church body, relatives, school board, self. “His banner over me is Love.”
In light of Advent, these banners find their roots in the redemption story. Though Israel abandoned the proclamations given by God to identify as His people, He still remembered His covenant and mercifully provided an everlasting covering—the Messiah. Woven through promised and fulfilled salvation, His ornament covers both the rebellion and performance of His people. This One will be our peace (Micah 5:5)."
IAM is proud to be connected with NCAI. If you're in or passing through Charlottesville in the next few weeks, be sure to connect with the vibrant arts community there.
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