Makoto Fujimura
Makoto Fujimura is an acclaimed contemporary artist known for blending traditional Japanese Nihonga techniques with modern abstraction. Working with finely ground minerals, gold and precious metals, Fujimura creates contemplative, layered works that invite stillness, reflection and spiritual depth.
Born in Boston and raised between the U.S. and Japan, Fujimura studied at Bucknell University before entering the prestigious Nihonga program at Tokyo University of the Arts. His work has been collected by leading institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Japan), The Huntington Library (CA) and the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art (Israel).
In addition to his celebrated painting practice, Fujimura has created a select body of original lithographs; in collaboration with master printers, he adapts his mineral-based palette and meditative gestures to the tactile processes of stone lithography, offering collectors a rare expression of his visual language in a historic printmaking medium.
Fujimura is also a distinguished writer and cultural advocate. His books include Art + Faith: A Theology of Making (Yale University Press, 2021), Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life (IVP, 2017), and Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering (IVP, 2016). These writings extend his “slow art” philosophy into questions of faith, creativity and cultural renewal.
A leading voice in the cultural conversation around beauty, creativity, and faith, Fujimura is a founding figure of the International Arts Movement (now IAM Culture Care) and served on the U.S. National Council on the Arts from 2003–2009. His work embodies a “slow art” philosophy — elevating craftsmanship, honoring tradition, and cultivating renewal through beauty.
Right: Makoto Fujimura working at Corridor Press.
