09 Sep 2012

Hirofumi Fujiwara at Galerie Helga Maria Bischoff

Making Up the Past is the title of the solo exhibition by Hirofumi Fujiwara. Daydreaming and meditating on what the past reflects. The young artist born in Hiroshima seems to be conditioned for the theme. His sculptures in clay and plastic are looking aimlessly, yet awake and openly towards the viewer. In inconspicuous clothing, which Fujiwara has carefully painted, they appear contemporary. The transparent plastic tubes lull the figures partially or completely into pensive sleep and let their contours disappear ⎯ blurred behind virtual foam. Some of the figures are naked, some wearing only white painted pants and caps. Did they take a bath or are they stranded? Their bodies are fragile; they are gazing inwards ⎯ meditatively. Standing completely still, sitting or lying, the enigmatic beings created by Hirofumi Fujiwara, do not show gestures and hardly any facial expressions ⎯ reflecting instead the invisibly depths of an inner life.

The work of Fujiwara shows affinities to the wooden sculptures of his professor, Stephan Balkenhol, but Fujiwara´s interpretation of civilization is very different, not only regarding the materials ⎯ his Far Eastern cultural background combines very subtly and authentically with the Western iconography.

Hirofumi Fujiwara graduated in 2009 from the Okayama Prefectural University, Soja-shi, Okayama in Japan with a Bachelor of Arts. Since 2010 he has been studying at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts. In Japan his work has been exhibited in galleries, museums and cultural institutions. The first solo exhibition of the young promising artist in Galerie Helga Maria Bischoff is being held 8 - 29 September 2012. The opening is on 7 September, 6 pm, Kollwitzstraße 74, 10435 Berlin, Germany.