Gajin Fujita
at the ADAA Fair
Gajin Fujita
Criminal Minded, 2026
24K & 12K gold leaf, spray paint, paint markers on wood panel
24 x 16 in. (61 x 40.6 cm)
L.A. Louver is pleased to participate in the ADAA Fair, with a solo presentation of new paintings and drawings by internationally renowned artist Gajin Fujita. The fair is taking place at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, November 12-16, 2026.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Fujita has spent over forty years creating works of art that explore his unique relationship with the city, his fascination with traditional Eastern and Western iconography, and his personal experience as a first-generation Japanese American. This dynamic presentation of work, mostly made within the last year, marks a pivotal moment in the artist’s career, in subject and technique.
Within the last decade, Fujita has shifted away from his exclusive use of ukiyo-e woodblock print imagery as primary subjects in his work, to more culturally relevant and personally charged imagery and narratives. Though the artist’s striking artworks remain complex and sophisticatedly layered with Fujita’s own societal and cultural ideologies, the imagery and narratives have become more vulnerable, existential, and visceral in concept. Fujita unabashedly interweaves his personal memories and emotions surrounding his parents, memorializing them through his current practice.
In this body of work, Fujita has introduced contemporary, iconic Japanese anime and film heroes into his paintings, blending modern iconography and ideology naturally to create a playful, enticing visual dialogue between the artwork and viewer.
As seen in Fujita’s paintings, Press Play and Press STOP (7867), the artist’s exploration of new techniques has allowed him to paint in a more representational manner at a level never explored or seen before. Fujita’s paintings incorporate a range of materials and methods, including spray paint (applied through intricately hand-cut stencils), paint markers, and gold and white gold leaf on wood panels. The artist’s skilled, intrinsic use of these materials paired with his new introspective curation of imagery has resulted in a powerful collection of paintings and drawings that beautifully capture the best of the artist, then and now, with more to come.
Gajin Fujita
Press Play, 2026
22K gold leaf, 12K white gold leaf, paint markers and spray paint on three wood panels
72 x 66 in. (182.9 x 167.6 cm)
Gajin Fujita
Cherub of Justice, 2026
24K gold, palladium, spray paint, stencils, paint markers on four panels
Overall: 48 x 64 in. (121.9 x 162.6 cm)
Each panel: 48 x 16 in. (121.9 x 40.6 cm)
Gajin Fujita
Study of Cherub of Justice (samurai), 2026
pencil, ink and spray paint on paper
36 3/16 x 65 13/16 in. (91.9 x 167.2 cm)
Framed: 40 x 69 3/8 in. (101.6 x 176.2 cm)
Gajin Fujita
ES LOWREINA ST., 2025
12K white gold leaf, 24K gold leaf, spray paint, paint markers and acrylic on wood panel
24 x 16 in. (61 x 40.6 cm)
Gajin Fujita
Tail Whip, 2007
gold & silver leaf, acrylic, paint marker, spray paint and Mean Streak on 6 panels
48 x 96 in. (121.9 x 243.8 cm)
Gajin Fujita
Pause to Reflect, 2026
12K white gold leaf, 24K gold leaf, paint markers and spray paint on two wood panels
Overall: 10 x 16 in. (25.4 x 40.6 cm)
Gajin Fujita
Press STOP (7867), 2026
12K white gold leaf, 22K gold leaf, paint markers and spray paint on four wood panels
Overall: 48 x 64 in. (121.9 x 162.6 cm)
About Gajin Fujita
Portrait of Gajin Fujita
Born in 1972, is the son of Japanese parents. His father was a fine art painter from Hokkaido, and his mother was an art conservator from Tokyo. His parents raised him and his brothers in Boyle Heights, a historic immigrant neighborhood just east of Downtown Los Angeles and the L.A. River. Fujita became fascinated with graffiti as a teenager, joining the tagging crews KGB (Kidz Gone Bad) and KIIS (Kill to Succeed). Through graffiti, Fujita followed his own path towards fine art and received his BA from Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, and his MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he found mentorship under art critic Dave Hickey. Fujita was also lauded by Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times as “the most important 21st century iteration of graffiti’s influence on art.”
Gajin Fujita has been included in museum exhibitions worldwide including Conversations through Asian Collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2015); Gajin Fujita, Hunter Museum of America Art, Chattanooga, TN (2015); Gajin Fujita: Ukiyo-e in Contemporary Paintings, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA (2012); Gold, Museum of Belvedere, Vienna, Austria (2012); Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Woodblock Prints, The Minneapolis Art Institute, Minneapolis, MN (2011); Prospect.1, curated by Dan Cameron, New Orleans, LA (2008); Zephyr: Paintings by Gajin Fujita, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas, MO (2006); Contemporary Projects 9: Gajin Fujita and Pablo Vargas Lugo, curated by Ilona Katzew, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA (2005); Floating World Redux: Gajin Fujita and Yasumasa Morimura, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC (2002); and Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitan, curated by Dave Hickey, Site Santa Fe’s 4th International Biennial, Santa Fe, NM (2001).
Video
'True Colors' is a transformational body of work by Gajin Fujita. Created between 2020 and 2023, the paintings and drawings in this exhibition demonstrate radical technical and thematic developments in Fujita’s oeuvre as the artist explores experimenting with shadow and line, the realm of social critique, and the incorporation of portraiture into his practice. This was the artist’s sixth solo exhibition at L.A. Louver.
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