Fujio Akai, 1990 in Germany as first foreign artist

honored by the renowned AUGUST-MACKE-Award.

Most recently represented by the Nichols Gallery in Kaiserswerth and the Adams Gallery in London.

More information:

Akai - that means 'red' in Japanese.

Nam June Paik praises in a 1991 catalog text for Fujio Akai: "Akai means 'red' in Japanese. Oh, what a red!! His canvas is full of seductive red - next to the bold greens! I am too un-talented to imitate him. How dare I to be so joyous? I envy him."

Fujio Akai, born in 1945 in Sumatra as the son of a Japanese officer and an Indonesian mother, grew up in Japan. The mother gave her child Dutch citizenship. At the age of 14, the young Fujio received Japanese citizenship, only to make a detour to Düsseldorf at 17.

Akai applied to the art academy there. Prof. Sackenheim immediately recognized Akai's unusual talent:

"To this day, the artistic work is characterized by the spontaneous movement of forms, guided by cautious sensitivity. The daring use of color, its freedom of action in staging optical events in the picture is a skill that his second teacher, Rupprecht Geiger, opened up to him.

Studies of art history led to a comparison between Europe and East Asia. The insights gained from this characterize Akai's painting to this day: an attitude inclined towards Japanese, which develops its forms from the abstract to the representational in the sense of landscape.

Color is the theme of Akai's works.

Fujio Akai himself said about this:

"I know that my existence is simple and natural, and that a simple and natural development has made me a painter," the artist said. "Therefore, my goal in using the various pictorial means is to reach a point where their complete mastery allows me to create paintings in a natural way without any complicated thought process".

Since 2008 Fujo Akai is represented with a large work in the collection of the VICTORIA and ALBERT Museums London. Companies and private collections as well as numerous museums in Japan and Europe include works by Fujio Akai in their collections.

(Note: In August 2010, Fujio Akai was struck by a serious illness, with which he still struggles today.

As a great friend of his works, I wish him all the best at this point!