Splendor

Splendor of the Medium (2004) comprised several abstract works relying on the refractive properties of the layers of minerals Fujimura uses. Philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff, who wrote Fujimura’s catalog essay, stated that Fujimura’s paintings "present the repose of harmony and reconciliation within this world." Exhibited at Kristen Frederickson Contemporary Art, a few blocks from Ground Zero, New York City, the paintings and installations mediate the complex reality of an artist living and working in the "splintered condition of culture as a kaleidoscope of common struggles."

Splendor for Kayama

Mineral Pigments, Gold on Kumohada

Fujimura writes in Refractions: A Journey of Art, Faith and Culture:
”Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) master Matazo Kayama passed away in April of 2004. When I heard the news, I began a painting called Splendor, which was exhibited in his memory that fall in TriBeCa, New York City...Professor Kayama selected me to be the first artist outside of their traditional curriculum in the prestigious post-MFA program, an extension of a lineage that has been in existence since fourteenth-century Japan (I came in as an "outsider," an American with a Japanese National Scholarship.)"