The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Miran Fukuda was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1963 and completed a postgraduate course atTokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1987. Her first solo exhibition was at the GalleryHumanite, Tokyo in 1988. The artist has also held solo exhibitions at the Tokyo Gallery in 1990 and 1992. 'Miran Fukuda - Moving Pictures' was held at the Art Gallery of Shibuya Seibu Department Store, also in Tokyo, in 1991. Her most recent solo show was 'Hara Documents 1', Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1992. Miran Fukudahasparticipated extensively in group exhibitions throughout Japan, receiving an Honourable Mention for her work in the '18th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan', Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art , and Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, 1987. Other group exhibitions she has participated in have been the '19th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan', Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, and Hiroshima City Museum of Contem­ porary Art, 1989; and 'Homage to Spanish Still Life by Yasumasa Morimura and Miran Fukuda', Nagoya City Art Museum, 1992. T he artist has won several awards for her work including the Yasui Grand Prize in the '32nd Annual Yasui Prize Exhibition', 1989 and the International Prize from the '7th Triennale- India', New Delhi, 1991. In addition to exhibitions in Japan, one of Miran Fukuda's most recent group shows was 'Prospect 93: The International Exhibition of Actual Art', Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 1993. T he artist's work is represented in several Japanese public collections including Yokohama Museum of Art, ltabashi Art Museum, Tokyo and the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma. In 1989, at the age of twenty-six, Miran Fukuda became the youngest-ever winner of the Yasui Grand Prize, a prestigious paint­ ing prize in Japan. In the winning painting Wednesday, she depicted everyday objects and information, such as figures of dinosaurs, comics, landscaped gardens and wrapping paper from department stores, with a dry sense of detachment as if playing a game. Wednesday was recognised as represent­ ing the chaotic and elusive nature of everyday life. Since then, Miran Fukuda has been work­ ing in the sphere of the 'new figuration', always challenging the concept 'What is painting?' Her new and adventurous answers to the question prompt debate. JAPAN MIRAN FUKUDA One recent trend in Japanese art is to use so-called 'European masterpiece paintings' to construct a 'world' created by the artist. T he artist enters the painting and reconstructs it from the inside through the view of one of the figures in thepainting. In theprocess, the story is first read in a three-dimensional context, then interpreted and edited from a different viewpoint, and finally fixed back onto a two-dimensional plane. Although such methods have often been used in the past, Miran Fukuda deliberately avoids the use of machines despite the fact that she belongs to the computer generation. Without the aid of electronic media, yet seeing objects with her eye and imagination which have been influenced by themedia, Fukuda takes a brush and synthetic polymer paint and reconstructs the original world with speed and dynamism. In this reconstructed world, she employs a mannerist-like deformation and rough brushstrokes, leaving a trace of her physical presence and, in turn, creating a disturbing atmosphere. Thus, she success­ fully interprets the original. Miran Fukuda has thus addressed the innate problems of painting that are both 73 See-through-an advertising leaflet inserted in the newspaper1990 Synthetic polymer paint on board 227.2x181 .Bern Collection: ltabashi Art Museum, Tokyo Bottom Claris, Flora and three Graces as seen by Zephyr1992 Synthetic polymer paint on board 227.2x181.8cm Collection: The artist general and specific to this age, while presenting as her answer a possibility for painting today. Takeshi Kanazawa