east la meets far east

My freind Lauraine and I went to lunch a couple weeks ago and she told me about this exhibit she wanted to stop by at LACMA (Thursday is free day!), so we walked over there for lunch. Its pretty small, but very cool - those of you in the LA area may want to stop in and check it out. Its on view through February 12.

This guy used to be in a tagging gang, but now mixes tagging and type with traditional Japanese-style imagery on gold leaf surfaces - the mix is really powerful. Here's an official description I ripped from the net since they say it better than I can...

"Mixing spray-painted graffiti with illustrative brushwork,LA-based artist Gajin Fujita sends mythical Japanese culture spinning into the 21st century. Street tags, freestyle lettering, palm trees, intricate patterns, and waves collide with angry gods, erotic geishas, and beguiling devils on prepared wood panels constructed in scale and proportion to time-honored Japanese screens. Fujita references his East LA 'hood with the repeated use of its 213 area code and tips his hat to New York from the West with cryptically crossed fingers and a monogrammed fan. His cocktail of inner-city funk, fabled figures, and bling-bling backgrounds serves a wildly wicked punch"