Rieko Fujinami: Artist Statement

My work concentrates on faces because, to me, the face Is the most important aspect
of a person's identitiy. The acetate film base becomes the curtain between the abstract
and the representational. On one side are the varied layers of the visible face of a
specific person, which also includes, in the captured moment, an individual, cultural,
and DNA history. On the other side of the film are the invisible aspects of willing
emotion, the unconscious, and the archetypes of the human race.

The individual caught in a present moment is also stretching back into the past and
foreword into the future. I want to hold the past, present and future together
in my work. The series of works acts as a translucent gate to the borderlands of
these dimensions. The audience viewing my drawings has layers in the same way,
so that when they look into the translucent mirror of my drawing I hope that
they will find eternity in a specific moment. and leave anxiety about death and life.