Image from http://goldensea.makotofujimura.com/
Makoto Fujimura is an artist who has opened worlds for me. He opened the world of abstraction so that I could walk inside. I'd felt shut out of that world before I encountered the welcome of his work. Something in his work continues to draw me, even though it contains no forms I recognize and no concrete concept I can dissect or explain. Even though I'd never heard of Japanese Nihonga painting before.
Fujimura might be the reason I painted my bedroom wall gold.
Makoto Fujimura opened the world of faith and the arts several cracks wider for me. He showed me, before I began to see it everywhere, that there are artists of excellence who are fervent Christians. Honestly, I'd thought that was a hybrid that didn't exist, like a unicorn.
Finally, Fujimura showed me that, even in a world filled with hunger and thirst, extravagance in art is not only alright but needed. That beauty is life-giving. That hope and creativity are conjoined twins.
Discover his work at http://www.makotofujimura.com/works/