福田美蘭

Born in Tokyo in 1963, Fukuda, whose father was the graphic designer Fukuda Shigeo and grandfather was the children’s illustrator Hayashi Yoshio, was raised so as to be well versed in art from childhood, and naturally aspired to become a painter. She graduated from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music (present Tokyo University of the Arts), Department of Painting, in March 1985, and won the Salon de Printemps Prize and the Mayor of Taito Ward Award for her graduation project. Fukuda attended graduate school at the same university, and belonged to the class of Ōnuma Teruo. After completing her graduate studies, she held her first solo exhibition in 1988 at Galerie Humanité Tokyo. The following year, she won the 32nd Yasui Award at the youngest age ever for her work “Wednesday” (1988, Yokohama Museum of Art). In Japan, she exhibited more in public open-call exhibitions than in group shows, and won an honorable mention at the Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan in 1987. Overseas, she earned high acclaim, including winning the gold medal at the 7th Triennale India in 1991 for her work “Green Giant” (1989, The National Museum of Art, Osaka). In the early 1990s, shortly after her debut, Fukuda addressed the rapid advancement of an information society by collaging miscellaneous objects from her surroundings onto her paintings, demonstrating outstanding compositional skills while portraying the chaos of contemporary society. From this period onward Fukuda focused on the possibilities of two-dimensional painting, especially of a figurative nature, and established this as her style. She consistently chose figuration over abstraction, expressing skepticism towards abstract art, which she felt could easily be conflated with mere subjectivity, stating: “I could never fully trust abstract painting.” (Note 1) Henceforth, Fukuda continued exploring the potential of figurative painting. Fukuda’s themes can be broadly discussed from three perspectives, namely technologies of reproduction like photography and printing; famous paintings from various eras and regions; and critiques of contemporary society. First, regarding the theme of reproductive technologies, the 1990s, when Fukuda was becoming an established artist, was a time when compact cameras were shifting from analog to digital, and photography was an impactful and persuasive element of reporting on television and in newspapers. Fukuda’s work “The Great Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji” (1996, Chiba City Museum of Art) addresses the fact that many artworks become widely known through printed materials, focusing on a phenomenon unique to current printing technology in which images are accidentally mirrored during printing. In “Frank Stella and I” (2001, Nagoya City Art Museum), Fukuda produced a two-meter-high painting on canvas from a photograph of herself and Stella, investigating differences between photography and painting. In recent years, she has continued addressing similar themes in ongoing project “Newspaper Print.” (Note 2) It involves taking images of her own works published in newspapers, such as exhibition advertisements or articles, and treating them as individual prints, adding her signature and edition number. She has been regularly producing these since 1996, and with improvements in printing technology and the increasing quality of color images in newspapers, the distinction between these reproductions and prints made with a printing press is becoming ever more blurred. The series also focuses on how an artist’s signature affects a work’s value, while continually questioning what constitutes a reproduction and what defines originality. A second perspective explored in Fukuda’s work concerns well-known paintings from various times and places. The artist revisits her own Western-centric art education and, as described earlier, sharply critiques our preconceived notions, in this case our “thinking we know these works well” through printed materials or the moving image. At times she applies a mosaic effect to parts of famous paintings or employs lenticular lenses to express motion, stimulating the viewer’s imagination as to what might have occurred before and after the scene depicted and hinting at flexible approaches to appreciating these masterpieces. At other times, she envisions and depicts the same scene from a different perspective, presenting a means of freely navigating the worlds of these familiar works. For example, in “Millet ‘The Sower’” (2002, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art), we are reminded that the pose in Millet’s iconic “The Sower” (1850, Museum of Fine Arts Boston and other collections) represents the moment just before sowing the seeds. When viewing “Infanta Margarita, Doña Isabel de Velasco, the Dwarf Maribarbola, and Nicolas Pertusato with a Dog from the Perspective of the Maid Doña Maria Augustina” (1992, Takamatsu Art Museum) we experience the sensation of becoming one of the characters in Diego Velazquez’s “Las Meninas.” Fukuda’s explorations extend to Japanese art, and recently, she selected ukiyo-e prints from the collection of the Chiba City Museum of Art as the basis for works that connect to contemporary social issues in the memorable 2021 exhibition “Fukuda Miran: Viewing the Collection of Chiba City Museum of Art.” Contemporary society is the third of Fukuda’s key themes. Since the 1980s, she has taken a strong interest in everyday events and social issues, frequently incorporating them into her work. She coolly analyzes issues of the day without being swayed by media reports or public opinion and presents her own original perspectives. To touch on two representative works, “Jesus Christ Speaking to President Bush” (2002, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art / Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum) addresses the 9/11 attacks and the American response, and critiques the international community’s inability to halt the cycle of violence. The inclusion of the imaginary figure of Christ might be seen as a cynical commentary on the inability to find a real solution, or alternatively, as representing yearning for salvation not available in reality. In “Autumn—Avalokitesvara as a Merciful Mother” (2012, Tokyo University of the Arts), dealing with the then-recent Great East Japan Earthquake, she masterfully conveys both inexpressible sorrow and the power of grace in the face of inexorable natural forces. Fukuda’s paintings pose keen questions, but do not merely cynically depict reality. It seems that at the core of her practice is a deep desire to seek solutions despite the immovable weight of real-world challenges. This text has analyzed the tendencies of Fukuda Miran from three broad perspectives, but however they are viewed, her works are fundamentally driven by an effort to reflect the contemporary zeitgeist. Fukuda skeptically, amusedly, and yet rigorously examines phenomena such as inundation with images and videos and the preconceived notions and social norms formed in this environment. Whether considering a blurry, shaky photo or a war happening across the sea, Fukuda is able to perceive these as realities contiguous with her own life. This creates a sense of urgency, which when combined with her extraordinary rendering ability and sufficient versatility to freely adapt her style to the subject, gives her works undeniable persuasive power. (Morimoto Haruka / Translated by Christopher Stephens) (Published online: 2025-02-27) Notes 1. Fukuda Miran & Yamashita Yuji (dialogue), ‘Everyone’s Masterpieces, One’s Very Own Masterpieces’ [Special Feature: Fukuda Miran — Give Us Masterpieces!], “Geijutsu Shincho,” Shinchosha, August 1999, p. 22. 2. “Fukuda Miran: From 1999 to New Paintings,” Setagaya Art Museum, 2001, p. 31.