Refractions

I was introduced to the art of Makoto Fujimura more than a decade ago, and while I still can't say I *understand* his art, I absolutely can say I respect the form, the technique, the slow deliberateness of the creative process, and his words about art and faith in Refractions.  This book of his essays, written primarily around the time he and his family were displaced by the 9/11 attacks on New York City, gave me a more intimate look at his approach to art.  

One of the ideas that resonated with me is the Japanese aesthetic concept "mono  no aware" translating roughly to "beauty in the pathos of things" or "a wistful awareness of impermanence". It describes a bittersweet emotion—finding beauty, sadness, and serenity simultaneously in the realization that all things, including life and beauty, are transient.  Fujimura says, "The age old concept of wabi (poverty) and  sabi (rusting away) insists that what is truly beautiful is not the permanence of things but the impermanence." 

This perspective plus his creative process - from paper making, to sourcing and grinding of minerals for the paint, to the application of layer upon layer of these slow drying pigments - inform how he applies his Christ-saturated worldview into his creations.  

Here is a tiny snippet on his Theology of Making that may whet your appetite to learn more: