Gajin Fujita is a unique artist in Los Angeles. Born to Japanese parents, Fujita (b. 1972) emerged creatively in the 1980s and 1990s in two of the city’s most influential neighborhoods. graffiti teams, K2S and KGB. In the decades since, Fujita has defined a distinctive visual language that blends images of traditional Japanese culture – think samurai warriors and mythical beasts – with images of the city’s unique culture.
In his current personal exhibition “true colors” To LA Louver, Fujita has created a dynamic world that blends Japanese ukiyo-e figures from the Edo period, including deities and beasts, with scenes drawn from the complexity of our time. The works are also a tribute to his hometown. In LA Home Ground (2020), the artist’s only self-portrait on the show, the artist is shown gazing down at the downtown LA skyline from the house where he grew up, the scene covered in patterns of oriental textiles .
Courtesy of the artist and LA Louvre.
He creates these multimedia works that mix spray paint, gold leaf and drawing in his unique workspace – a patio and compact studio at the back of the Echo Park home he shares with his wife, the photographer Angela Fujita. In this small space, Fujita stores spray paint, stencils, and a surprising amount of artwork from the street artists he grew up with.
Recently, he took us into his creative space and gave us an insight into his creative practice.
Tell us about your workshop. Where is it, how did you find it, what type of space is it?
My studio is in Echo Park, Los Angeles. It’s a small freestanding building that came with a wooden deck when I got my house in 2012. I do all my spraying on the deck, and the studio itself is more of a storage space for all my materials . It is cold during the winters and hot during the summers.
Photo by Angela Fujita, courtesy of the artist and LA Louver.
What made you choose this studio over others?
I chose this location in particular because I was looking for a house close to the city center, with a large exterior where I could work.
Do you have studio assistants or other team members working with you? What are they doing?
So I usually work alone, but occasionally someone like my brother helps me with gold leaf. I also have my fraternity of graffiti team members who go out and add flavor to paintings with their tags.
How many hours do you typically spend in the studio, what time of day do you feel most productive, and what activities take up the majority of that time?
Typically, I try to spend around 4-7 hours in the studio. My first hours of play with my paintings will be in the afternoon just before the sun begins to set. I try to spend most of my time in the studio painting, but there are several different processes involved in making my paintings. There are times when I will work on gold leaf gilding on the surfaces of the paintings, or sometimes I will work on designs and cut out stencils in preparation for painting.
Photo by Angela Fujita, courtesy of the artist and LA Louver.
What’s the first thing you do when you walk into your studio?
I usually turn on music after opening my studio. I listened to old hip hop radio shows, especially the Stretch & Bobbito shows from the 90s. This was a show that ran after midnight on Thursday nights on WKCR 89.9 NYC. Lots of mixtapes from 90s hip-hop groups like A Tribe Called Quest at DITC. I like mixtapes because it’s continuous music for over an hour or so, so it doesn’t cause any interruptions while working.
What is the studio task on your calendar this week that you are most looking forward to?
I always look forward to painting or playing with paints and colors! Also prepare the stencils, cut the paper stencils with the X-Acto knife. After preparing the stencil, I love handling the spray paint and making color choices by spraying those colors using the stencil. I also love seeing the results of what I’ve painted and the reveal phase of when you remove the stencil from the surface.
What tool or art supply do you most enjoy working with, and why? Please send us a picture of it.
I love my spray paints, they are like a basketball to a basketball player.
Photo by Angela Fujita, courtesy of the artist and LA Louver.
What atmosphere do you prefer when you work? Is there anything you like to listen to/watch/read/watch, etc. in the studio to inspire you or as ambient culture?
Atmospherically, I like to be alone and will have a kind of hip hop mix while I paint. And when I’m in the studio, I like to read and browse the books of Ukiyo-e printmaking masters. Also, sometimes I just like to listen to what is happening in the environment around me.
How do you know when a work you are working on clicks? How do you know that a work you are working on is a failure?
I try to approach my paintings with a pre-planned composition, so when I start painting I work on something that will click and sweat in my vision.
A black and white photograph of Angela Fujita, above a painting by a friend of the artist, Alex “Differ” Kizu. Photo by Angela Fujita, courtesy of the artist and LA Louver.
What images or objects do you look at while you work? Do you have other works by artists in your studio? If so, please share a phone photo and tell the story behind it.
I look at a lot of colors with the spray paints I have in my studio. I also have some of my friends’ works on the walls and in the studio. I have a work of Jesse Simon, my old college friend who is also a member of the KGB graffiti team, and another by Kevin Bays, who was my classmate in graduate school. I also have a work of graffiti artist Miner WCA, and a painting by CAB K2S, an old childhood friend from the Boyle Heights neighborhood. Next to the CAB painting is an image of the LA Public Library Map I collaborated on with them in 2019 using the image of my painting Guardian angel (2016). There is also a photo on the wall taken and printed by my wife Angela Lee Fujita in 1992. This is a double exposure with one of the exposures being my torso. Finally, there is a painting leaning against a wall by an old friend and middle school artist, Alex “Defer” Kizu. Defer is a member of the K2S graffiti team. He painted this picture spontaneously and impulsively on a thick piece of watercolor paper.
What was the last museum or gallery exhibit you saw that really stood out to you and why?
The last shows that really stood out to me were the Caravaggio and Japanese armor shows that I saw at LACMA. With Caravaggio, I was just in awe of these paintings created by one of my heroes over 400 years ago. With the Japanese Armor show, I was fascinated by how these armors made for Japanese warriors 500 years ago were made not only with protective designs in mind, but also with great aesthetics and creative designs, as well as with great craftsmanship.
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