Takashi Fukushima (São Paulo SP 1950)
Takashi Fukushima is a painter, printmaker, draftsman and set designer. The son of the painter Tikashi Fukushima (1920–2001), he studied with Luiz Paulo Baravelli in 1970 and, that same year, entered the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo (FAU/USP). Alongside his university studies, he took part in the Bienal Internacional de São Paulo in 1973 and 1975, receiving an acquisition prize at the latter. He was present in several editions of the Salão Paulista de Artes Plásticas, receiving awards in 1976 and 1987. Also in 1987, he was responsible for the visual concept and sets of the play Pássaro do Poente [Bird of the West], with Grupo Ponkã, receiving the following year the Apetesp, Mambembe and Molière awards and the Revelação [Newcomer] award of the Associação Paulista dos Críticos de Arte (APCA).
In 1990, he studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, in Japan, on a scholarship granted by the Japan Foundation. That same year, he received the excellence award at the 1st Brazilian Design Biennial, in Curitiba. In 1991, he received an honorable mention at the 6th Museu da Casa Brasileira Award, in São Paulo. In 2001, he completed a master's degree in urban environmental structures at FAU/USP, under the supervision of Issao Minami, beginning his doctorate that same year. Since 1992, he has taught drawing in the Architecture and Urbanism program of the Faculdade de Belas Artes de São Paulo.
Critical Commentary
Early in his career, Takashi Fukushima paints landscapes using calligraphic marks and brushstrokes that occupy the lower part of the canvas, leaving much of the surface blank. In Eastern tradition, this blank space relates not only to silence but to spiritualization. Gradually the entire white surface of the canvas comes to be occupied by the landscape, rendered in sinuous lines that reveal mountains and vegetation. In contrast to the graphic marks, some areas are dominated by brushstrokes made with fluid paint, approaching abstraction.
The artist uses a color range that evokes the softness of watercolor, in large-scale works. In the mid-1980s, he also exhibits urban landscapes, which show great formal simplification, with a darker color range dominated by colors mixed with gray. The painter also devotes himself to woodcut, in which he takes up the recurring concerns of his paintings.
In an exhibition held in 1999, Takashi Fukushima uses mixed media on wood, applying the paint so as to let the texture and grain of this support show through, in works closer to abstraction.
Critiques
"Takashi has been standing out for an extremely refined sensitivity in his approach to the theme of landscape. In keeping with the Eastern parameter and tradition, the landscape emerges lightly from the white of the canvas (and the white is canvas and is space) as a way of sensitizing the spirit. At times, however, and without losing this lightness, the landscape takes on an anthropomorphic character: it is woman, it is body".
Frederico Morais
15 JOVENS artistas do Brasil. São Paulo: MAB; Buenos Aires: Museo de Arte Moderno, 1978.
Solo Exhibitions
1971 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Opus Galeria de Arte
1976 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Eucatexpo
1977 - Cuiabá MT - Solo, at Museu de Arte e Cultura Popular
1977 - Montreal (Canada) - Solo, at Galeria Libre
1977 - Toronto (Canada) - Solo, at Inform All Art Gallery
1978 - Brasília DF - Solo, at Oscar Seraphico Galeria de Arte
1979 - Montreal (Canada) - Solo, at Galeria Libre
1980 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Galeria Salamandra
1981 - Montreal (Canada) - Solo, at Galeria Libre
1981 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Paulo Prado Galeria de Arte
1982 - São Carlos SP - Solo, at Itaugaleria
1982 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Pitanga do Amparo Arquitetura e Arte
1982 - São Paulo SP - Shizen: Imitating Nature, at Galeria Alberto Bonfiglioli
1983 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Paulo Prado Galeria de Arte
1984 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Bonfiglioli
1984 - São Paulo SP - Takashi Fukushima: Drawings and Watercolored Lithographs, at Pitanga do Amparo Arquitetura e Arte
1985 - Salvador BA - Urban Nature, at Paulo Darzé Galeria de Arte
1985 - São Paulo SP - City and Countryside, at Galeria Alberto Bonfiglioli
1986 - Recife PE - Synthetic Garden I and II, at Artespaço Galeria de Arte
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Skies and Lands, at Realidade Galeria de Arte
1986 - São Paulo SP - Synthetic Garden I and II, at Tôki Arte Galeria
1988 - São Paulo SP - On Natures, at Paulo Figueiredo Galeria de Arte
1989 - Paris (France) - Takashi Fukushima: oeuvres récentes [Recent Works], at Espaço Latino-Americano
1991 - São Paulo SP - Takashi Fukushima: Woodcuts, at Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud
1992 - Recife PE - Solo, at Artespaço Galeria de Arte
1992 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Montesanti Roesler
1993 - São José dos Campos SP - Solo, at Fundação Cultural Cassiano Ricardo
1995 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Nara Roesler
1998 - São Paulo SP - Takashi Fukushima: Watercolors, at Câmara Americana de Comércio
1999 - São Paulo SP - Floating Times, at Pinacoteca do Estado
2001 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Pinacoteca do Estado
2002 - São Paulo SP - Signs of Time, at Valu Oria Galeria de Arte
Group Exhibitions
1969 - São Paulo SP - 13th Seibi Group Visual Arts Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1970 - São Paulo SP - 4th Young Contemporary Art, at MAC/USP
1972 - Belo Horizonte MG - Belo Horizonte National Contemporary Art Salon, at MAP
1972 - Campinas SP - 8th Campinas Contemporary Art Salon, at MACC - special mention
1972 - Curitiba PR - 29th Paraná Art Salon, at Teatro Guaíra
1972 - São Paulo SP - Brasil Plástica 72 Award, at Fundação Bienal - newcomer award
1972 - São Paulo SP - Independence Sesquicentennial Art Show and Brasil Plástica - 72, at Fundação Bienal
1973 - São Paulo SP - 12th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1974 - Belo Horizonte MG - 4th National Salon, at MAP - award winner
1974 - Belo Horizonte MG - 6th Belo Horizonte National Contemporary Art Salon, at MAP
1974 - Campinas SP - 9th Campinas Contemporary Art Salon, at MACC
1974 - Santo André SP - 7th Santo André Contemporary Art Salon, at Paço Municipal
1974 - São Paulo SP - 3rd Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa - acquisition prize
1974 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Nacional 74 [National Biennial 74], at Fundação Bienal
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal - acquisition prize
1976 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte Agora I [Art Now I], at MAM/RJ
1976 - São Paulo SP - 5th Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa
1976 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo Salon of Contemporary Art, at Paço das Artes
1976 - São Paulo SP - 8th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP - CEF Prize
1978 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - 15 Young Artists from Brazil, at Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st National Visual Arts Salon, at MNBA - travel award
1978 - São Paulo SP - 3 Generations of Japanese-Brazilian Artists, at Galeria Arte Global
1978 - São Paulo SP - 7th Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa - travel award
1978 - São Paulo SP - 15 Young Artists from Brazil, at MAB/Faap
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2nd National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1979 - São Paulo SP - 11th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1979 - São Paulo SP - 8th Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa - grand prize
1979 - São Paulo SP - Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 3rd National Visual Arts Salon, at MNBA
1980 - São Paulo SP - 2nd MOA Brazilian Art Salon, at MAM/SP - acquisition prize
1980 - São Paulo SP - 9th Bunkyo Salon
1980 - São Paulo SP - Landscape Painters, at Galeria de Arte André
1981 - Osaka (Japan) - Latin American Exhibition of Contemporary Art Brazil/Japan, at Museu Nacional de Arte de Osaka
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 4th National Visual Arts Salon
1981 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo Salon of Plastic and Visual Arts, at Paço das Artes
1982 - Belo Horizonte MG - National Art Salon, at MAP
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1982 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo Salon of Contemporary Art, at Fundação Bienal
1983 - Atami (Japan) - 6th MOA Brazil-Japan Art Expo
1983 - Kyoto (Japan) - 6th MOA Brazil-Japan Art Expo
1983 - Tokyo (Japan) - 6th MOA Brazil-Japan Art Expo
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1983 - São Paulo SP - 14th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1983 - São Paulo SP - Expo 75 Years of Immigration, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1983 - São Paulo SP - Japanese-Brazilians: Master and Students over 50 Years, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1983 - São Paulo SP - Palmeira [Palm Tree], at Galeria Alberto Bonfiglioli
1983 - São Paulo SP - Art and Generation, at Galeria Sesc Carmo
1984 - Ourinhos SP - Homage to the Art of Printmaking in Brazil, at Itaugaleria
1984 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo Salon of Contemporary Art, at Fundação Bienal
1984 - São Paulo SP - The Urban and Industrial Dimensions in São Paulo Figurative Painting, at Traço Galeria de Arte
1984 - São Paulo SP - Casa Vogue Walls, at Masp
1984 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo Salon of Contemporary Art, at MIS/SP
1985 - Atami (Japan) - 7th Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, at Fundação Mokiti Okada
1985 - Kyoto (Japan) - 7th Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 7th Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, at Fundação Brasil-Japão
1985 - São Paulo SP - Highlights of Brazilian Contemporary Art, at MAM/SP
1985 - São Paulo SP - 7th Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, at Fundação Brasil-Japão
1985 - Tokyo (Japan) - Contemporary Brazilian Printmaking, at Embaixada do Brasil
1985 - Tokyo (Japan) - 7th Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1986 - São Paulo SP - 17th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1987 - Ottawa (Canada) - Brazilian Printmaking, at Front Gallery
1987 - São Paulo SP - 13 Western Rugs, at Paulo Figueiredo Galeria de Arte
1987 - São Paulo SP - 18th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art - acquisition prize
1988 - Beijing (China) - Brazil-China Exhibition, at Galeria de Belas Artes da China
1988 - Beijing (China) - Contemporary Brazilian Art, at Museu Nacional de Pequim
1988 - São Paulo SP - 15 Years of the Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, at Fundação Mokiti Okada
1988 - São Paulo SP - Fasm National Watercolor Salon, at Faculdade Santa Marcelina Campus Perdizes
1989 - London (England) - Contemporary Brazilian Lithographs, at King's College
1989 - São Paulo SP - 20th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1989 - São Paulo SP - Journey to Paper of the Biennials, at MAM/SP - Canson Prize
1989 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Painting 20th Century: Works from the Banco Itaú Collection, at Itaugaleria
1989 - São Paulo SP - Journey to Paper in the Brazilian Biennials, at MAM/SP
1990 - Curitiba PR - 1st Brazilian Design Biennial - excellence award
1990 - São Paulo SP - 21st Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1991 - Osaka (Japan) - 2nd Osaka International Print Triennial
1991 - São Paulo SP - Artist-Architects, at Masp
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Eco Art, at MAM/RJ
1992 - Santo André SP - Lithography: Methods and Concepts, at Paço Municipal
1993 - João Pessoa PB - Woodcut: From Cordel to the Gallery, at Fundação Espaço Cultural da Paraíba
1993 - Santos SP - 4th Santos National Biennial, at Centro Cultural Patrícia Galvão
1993 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo Watercolor Salon, at Fasm
1993 - São Paulo SP - Portuguese-Japanese-Brazilian Exhibition, at MAB/Faap
1994 - Chicago (United States) - Watercolours, at Northern Illinois University. Gallery 2000
1994 - Recife PE - São Paulo Art, at Artespaço Galeria de Arte
1994 - São Paulo SP - Woodcut: From Cordel to the Gallery, at Metrô
1995 - Brasília DF - Seven Samurai of Brazilian Art, at LBV
1995 - Niigata (Japan) - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Niigata Museum
1995 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Japanese and Japanese-Brazilian Artists, at MAC/USP
1995 - São Paulo SP - Brazil-Japan Art, at Fundação Mokiti Okada
1995 - São Paulo SP - Garner Tullis Workshop, at MAM/SP
1995 - Tokushima (Japan) - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Centro Cultural de Tokushima
1996 - Gifu (Japan) - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Museum of Fine Art Gifu
1996 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Masp
1996 - Tokyo (Japan) - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Azabu Art Museum
1997 - Jacareí SP - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Oficina de Artes Santa Helena
1998 - Belo Horizonte MG - Japan-Brazil International Traveling Exhibition, at Fundação Clóvis Salgado. Palácio das Artes
1998 - Ipatinga MG - Japan-Brazil International Traveling Exhibition, at Fundação São Francisco Xavier. Centro Cultural Usiminas
1999 - Brasília DF - Japan-Brazil International Traveling Exhibition, at Ministério das Relações Exteriores
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Mostra Rio Gravura. São Paulo: Printmaking Today, at Palácio Gustavo Capanema
1999 - São Paulo SP - Japan-Brazil International Traveling Exhibition, at Masp
2000 - São Paulo SP - Almeida Júnior: An Artist Revisited, at Pinacoteca do Estado
2001 - São Paulo SP - Japanese-Brazilian Art: Moments, at Galeria Euroart Castelli
2001 - São Paulo SP - 50 Years of the Biennial: A Tribute to Ciccillo Matarazzo, at Fundação Bienal
2001 - São Paulo SP - Museu de Arte Brasileira: 40 Years, at MAB
2002 - São Paulo SP - 8 Contemporary Brazilian Artists, at Casa das Rosas
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Projeto Brazilianart, at Almacén Galeria de Arte
2003 - São Paulo SP - Generations: Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Art, at Espaço de Artes Unicid
2005 - São Paulo SP - Small Great Works, at Cultural Blue Life
Source: Itaú Cultural
