FUJIO AKAI

About

The Adam Gallery is delighted to present a selection of Fujio Akai's recent 'waterpaintings' in his first solo exhibition in the UK. The vibrant and luminous colours are a testament to his unusual use of water based media and give an emotional intensity to the work. The compositions are painted without perspective allowing all parts of the work to have equal significance. The bold colours and seemingly spontaneous abstract style of painting disguise the precision and sophistication of the work. The intense reduction of colour and form bring a meditative quality to the images, while the waves of paint and floating forms create an atmospheric liveliness. Several of these paintings are executed predominantly in warm colours such as pink, orange and red with a contrasting element of blue. They speak to the realm of the emotions. They will remain in your memory and the landscape of your mind long after viewing them.

Fujio Akai was born in Sumatra, Indonesia in 1945, and lived in Kyoto, Japan until 1965. Japanese cultural traditions, in particular painting, have had an important influence on Fujio's artistic practice and output. Japanese painting can be identified for its sense of simplicity and a colourful exuberance ' qualities clearly apparent in Fujio's work. Also, the use of the brush throughout the history of Japanese painting and calligraphy is significant ' for many years the brush was used as a tool for writing in contrast to the pen. Even in writing the emphasis was on painterly expression. It is this quality in particular that remains evident in Fujio's paintings.