Art as Prayer – Makoto Fujimura
So many of you have been interested in the posts we’ve done regarding art and Christian faith that I’d like to introduce you to a contemporary Christian Artist named Makoto Fujimura.
His new book: River Grace, is described as follows;
River Grace is an intimate, autobiographical look at Makoto Fujimura’s early years as an artist in Japan. In a refreshingly transparent account, Mako recalls discovering Nihonga, the ancient style of painting that would become his trademark, and being awakened to a longing for “higher transcendence through the extravagant materials” Nihonga employs. Yet it was not until reluctantly accompanying his new bride to church that he found the Object and Source of his longing, and this faith has become the cornerstone of his art, marriage and, indeed, entire life.
Check out this 2 minute video but come back and read the rest of the post.
What they mean by “extravagant” material is that the artist works with precious metals, handmade paper and pigments made by hand grinding minerals with stone. Not only are the materials “extravagant” but the whole process causes the artist to be connected to the work and its story.
Here’s an interesting excerpt from an interview with art critic James Romaine
JR: I’ve heard you describe the creative process in relation to Mary Magdalene, who anointed the feet of Christ. While there is some uncertainty about who this Mary was, images of “the Repentant Magdalene” abound in Western art. But it seems to me that she is most often held up as a model for the viewer. You are the only person I’ve known to turn Mary around as a model for the artist. How has she been an inspiration for you?
MF: I am referring to the account in John 12 where Mary comes to the place where Jesus was staying and poured out her perfume. Here, she is the sister of Martha and Lazarus, whom Christ raised from the dead. In this state of complete and utter amazement, her heart was full of thankfulness. She was overwhelmed with emotion and she didn’t know what to do. Then she realized that the only thing that she had valuable enough with which to somehow respond to this amazing miracle was this perfume, which was worth about a year’s wages. She anointed Jesus with a perfume aroma that He went to the Cross with. That was the only thing He wore on His body on the Cross. She seems to me to be the quintessential artist because she responded with this intuition rather than calculation.
JR: If Mary was the quintessential artist, than Judas was the quintessential art critic. [laughter] His response to that scene was outrage and to condemn it as wasteful. I don’t want to go too far with this comparison but there are many people, both Christian and non-Christian, who view the visual arts as something “extra” at best or a total waste at worst, but not essential in any way. Is there a model in the story of Mary about the value of art?
MF: Certainly. What Jesus said to her, and those around Him as well including Judas, was “she has done a beautiful thing and wherever the Gospel is preached what she has done will be remembered.” That is an amazing commendation for someone like me who tends to work from the heart, who tends to work with precious and costly materials. I remember that the extravagance of Christ’s love for me prompted an extravagant response. Eventually, I came to connect what I do as an artist with Mary’s devotional act. Maybe that is the one act we can look to as the centerpiece for a paradigm of creativity.
Here are a couple of links.
His book: River Grace
His Website: makatofujimura.com
Larry is the senior pastor at 
Thanks Larry for sharing this with us. I really like Makato’s work and philosophy. This idea of grace through suffering illustrated by the destruction of his pigments is so profound. Michelle and I really connected with this vision of the gospel. I like how he doesn’t downplay the reality of suffering but meets it head on, and even shows that something beautiful can come out of it. This reminds me of a piece of a sculpture called ‘the tree of life.’ Here is a link: http://www.jamd.com/search?assettype=g&assetid=52122870&text=african+art+gun+tree
This is a sculpture of a tree made entirely out of recycled guns that were turned over to the government in Mozambique after the civil war there. The idea I think is similar to Makato’s in that light and grace and life can come out of even the greatest experiences of suffering.
I really liked this post. This technique is so neat. I liked how they said that the paint itself is made by crushing minerals and that light will pass through it. When I heard those words and then they displayed a painting it gave me a new perspective on the art. It allowed me to look at it differently. It’s a wonderful way to remind us of God’s grace. Thanks for posting.
This blog is really cool, too. I like the content, video and images. I am going to look for a feed on this blog so I can get notified each time there is a new post.
Hey Marissa – I know Clay was working on making sure we are set up for a feed. If we don’t have it yet we hope to very soon. Thanks for commenting. I love the blog being something of a community effort and a big part of that is hearing what others are interesting in. The interest people have shown in art and culture has been encouraging and a little surprising to me. The result is that I plan to do much more on this.
hi larry, i am still around and missing it all but i did see your blog for the first time and landed on the “art as prayer.” i know that art speaks in ways to some that language can not so i asked my daughter to view the screen with me and i showed her the film clip. she is quite creative. this was a very good thing to do. my 15 y.o. actually sat through it all and made a positive remark! you and i know that this is a big deal. she also reminded me that she promises “sometime” to come to service with me on saturday night. thanks for doing all you do. karen spicer
Hey Marissa, I’m not sure if you’ll see this or not but here’s the deal with the feed. There are a couple of ways you can subscribe to this blog. By clicking on the rss logo in the address bar at the top it will give you the option to subscribe that way. Another way is, depending on what you use as a feed reader, you might be able to search for it. For example, I use Google reader and I used the search function to find it. Hope this helps.
Hi Cass, I followed your instructions and have subscribed to an RSS feed. Thank you. This is really neat and I look forward to reading all the different posts. Thanks again!