Fumiko Amano

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | Biography | Information & News

Born: Japan
Lives: Los Angeles, CA, USA

Education
Education:
2000 California Design College, Los Angeles, Certificate Program-Fashion Design/CAD
1993 University of Wisconsin, BA-Art & Design, Painting and Printmaking
1989 Toyo Women’s College, Tokyo, AD-English Literature


Solo Exhibitions
Solo Show:
2009 Solo Exhibition, Murnau Art Gallery, Seville, Spain
2007 "Heian Dream Series", Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 “Sonic Landscapes,” Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2004 “Paintings & Drawings”, Art Share Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2003 “Abstract”, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA


Group Exhibitions
For details, visit http://fumikoamano.neoimages.net

Bibliography
Fumiko Amano was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1968. She has been exploring various mediums to express herself since she was a child. She started taking piano lessons at three, and she was composing music by seven. By the age of ten, Amano published her first poetry book with her own ink drawings. In 1987, she attended Toyo Women's College in Tokyo as an English literature major and joined a theater club in school. At that time she was fascinated by contemporary theater directed by Yukio Ninagawa and Juro Kara (the most influential Japanese theater directors). This led Amano to move to the United States to study more about contemporary theater arts.

Amano attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where she studied visual art, music recording, theater arts and performing arts for four and a half years. At age 23 she gave her first performance art piece, using a big mixed media painting (7' x 35') which was used as a musical score. She graduated from UWSP in 1993 with a BA in Art & Design-Painting/Printmaking. Soon after, she moved to San Francisco, where she started incorporating beat poetry, architecture, Japanese comics, dreams and sound into her paintings. In 1997, in search of a new environment to create sonic landscapes, Amano traveled extensively, first to Rio de Janeiro, then on to New York, Miami and Los Angeles, where she finally settled down.

In 2000, she attended California Design College in Los Angeles to study fashion. Inspired by designs from contemporary designers such as Rei Kawakubo, Hussein Chalayan, she started her own label called Unicode to create contemporary design of clothing and hats. She also started working on fabric-made installation art pieces, inspired by Earnest Neto's works.

In 2003, because of her passion for film, she started a monthly art film screening event at Art Share in downtown L.A. as a curator/organizer. In 2004, Amano helped curate the Tar Fest Short Film Festival and this year she curated a film event for MOCA NIGHT VISION, in conjunction with Robert Rauschenberg: THE COMBINES. Los Angeles Magazine has dubbed her the 'culture vulture' of downtown Los Angeles (June 2004 issue) because of her devotion to the Downtown art community.

Over the past five years Amano has been working on several series of paintings, including: Dream Series (2002 & 2007), Dust Painting Series (2003), Water Music Series (2003), Live Painting Series (2003-current), Organic Series (2003-current), Downtown Series (2004-current), Pattern Series (2005), Atmospherics Series (2006), and Flower Form Series (2006-current). Her atmospheric paintings, created as visualizations of sound/dream/organic forms, have been exhibited in San Francisco, New York, Berlin, L.A., Spain and Korea. Her recent works were exhibited at Lawrence Asher Gallery, LACMA Rental and Sales Gallery., Salo Oblique, Another Year in LA and Murnau Art Gallery in Seville, Spain.

Grants/Awards
2008
Cover on the ‘2008 Calendar and Cultural Guide’ presented by Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and the Dept. of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles “Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month”

2005
Picture Book Contest –Category B, the 3rd Prize
Presented by Luminous Inc. and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, New York, NY


Projects
For details, visit http://fumikoamano.neoimages.net

Publications
Publications:
2008
‘2008 Calendar and Cultural Guide’ presented by Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and the Dept. of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles “Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month”
“Studio Visit” published by the Open Studio Press
Photo credit on Notcias Arquitectura for the article of architect Hagy Belzberg.
SunHerald.com “Angel City Jazz Festival” article, Mississippi

2007
“The House of Tomorrow” Photo credit in the article of Hagy Belzberg Architects, Interior Magazine, Nov. 2007 issue
Featured artist in “Need to Know” section, A Fashionable Life online magazine, November issue
“Live Drawing Session by Fumiko Amano”, Art Daily.org, Nov. 10, 2007
“Serendipidity, Sympathy and Open Studios”, featured artist in SND’s Art Blog on Uber.com, Nov. 27, written by Shana Nys Dambrot
Lacy Studio Lofts catalogue, Photo credit only, Creative Environments, November publication
“Geijutsu Kigyo-ron: Takashi Murakami” book review by Fumiko Amano, Artillery, Oct. issue
2007 Calendar and Cultural Guide presented by Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and the Dept. of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles “Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month”
Flavorpill LA, Sept 4-10 issue, Art Section
Flavorpill LA, Oct 9-15 issue, Art section
“Velocity”, ArtDaily, Oct. 23 issue
“Fumiko Amano: Heian Dream Series”, Art Daily, Italy, Nov. 2, issue
H_NGM_N, poetry magazine, New Orleans, LA, Dec. issue cover & features artist page

2006
Downtown News, December 18, p.13
LA Weekly ‘Pick of the Week’ by Peter Frank, Nov 11, p.62
Chicano Art Magazine
AbsoluteArts, Oct12 issue online
Lifescapes Magazine, September issue
Tema Celeste Magazine, January issue
Downtown News, January 9, ‘Don’t Miss List’ p. 16

2005
Flavorpill LA, November 29-December 5 issue
Downtown News, November 28 issue-Front page
Arts District Citizens, First issue (December)
Ism, Fall issue
Italian Elle Décor, September issue
Larchmont Chronicle, July 29
LA Downtown News, July 4 issue, p. 14
AbsoluteArts, July 6, issue online
Angeleno Magazine, ‘Visual Arts’, p.48
Weekly ‘Pick of the Week’ April 22-28, p.56
Lifescape Magazine, June/July, p.11-13
Flavorpill LA, January 11-17 issue, Art section
Gallery Guide, January, p.32 (photo credit only)

2004
Los Angeles Magazine, Downtown issue, p.60-61

2001
Artists Index Directory by Art In America, August issue

1998
The Providence Journal, RI, August 14, p.1

1996 Artweek, “Soon” May issue