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click images to enlarge Dream Series 002 24" x 24" Mixed media on canvas   Dream Series 006 36" x 48" Mixed media on canvas   Dream Series 013 24" x 18" Mixed media on canvas   Heian Dream Series 005 36" x 48" Mixed media on canvas   Downtown 2007 Series 018 36” x 36” Mixed media on canvas   Downtown 2006 Series 015 24" x 36" Mixed media on canvas   Downtown 2007 Series 019 20” x 20” Mixed media on panel   Downtown 2007 Series 006 8" x 10"  Mixed media on panel   Dreams 04 2002 Mixed media on canvas   Downtown 2006 Series 007 8" x 10" Mixed media on canvas   Downtown 2006 Series 004 48" x 36" Mixed media on canvas   Downtown 2006 Series 008 12" x 12" Mixed media on canvas

Fumiko Amano            Artist Statement  |  Resume 2007 Heian Dreams 005, mixed media on canvas, 36" x 96 " BIOGRAPHY 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. Los Angeles magazine has dubbed her the 'culture vulture' of downtown Los Angeles (June 04 issue) because of her devotion to the Downtown art community.   Over the past few years Amano has been working on several series of paintings, including: Dream Series (2002), Dust Painting Series (2003), Water Music Series (2003), Live Painting Series (2003-2004) and Organic Series (2003-2004).  Her atmospheric paintings, created as visualizations of sound/dream/organic forms, have been exhibited in San Francisco, New York and L.A.  Her most recent works will be exhibited at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in November and the Lawrence Asher Gallery in February, 2005.  She joined the Pharmaka group in August 2004. ___________________________________ ARTIST'S STATEMENT   “Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?” --- John Cage   Every city is filled with sounds that combine to form a sonic landscape.  I have spent time in many different cities and have always been interested in the sonic landscapes of urban areas.   I grew up in Tokyo during the smoggy 70’s and was annoyed and depressed by the yellow flags that signaled dangerous pollution levels in the air.  But along with the pollution came a sonic landscape of cars, sirens and trains that I truly enjoyed.  It was an environment that seemed natural to me.   I began taking piano lessons when I was three years old and feel that classical music provided a sound structure that helped me decode the sonic landscape that was evolving around me.  I didn’t realize at the time that these industrial sounds were being incorporated into modern musical scores.   Sound is my inspiration.  Sounds fill my canvases.  I turn sound into color.  Many classical composers have taken a similar route and have created charts that assign colors to notes.   I decided to create visual images inspired by urban noise after I saw Michiyoshi Inoue conduct a performance by a symphony orchestra by pointing at different parts of a large painting.  The colors and textures of the painting became intertwined with the music.  I was also inspired by John Cage’s use of notation in Water Music.  His musical score looked more like a drawing than a traditional score.   All of my recent paintings have been composed using collage techniques.  I feel like a modern DJ when I am painting.  I cut and paste from various ready-made sources to create a work with new meaning and a sense of history.  I have incorporated architecture, Japanese comics, dreams, beat poetry and sound into my latest series of painting.   Enjoy! Fumiko Amano, Artist   _______________________   RESUME Born:       08/03/1968, Tokyo, JAPAN   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   Selected Art Exhibitions Solo Show: 2007              “Heian Dream Series”, Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2006              “Sonic Landscapes,” Solo Show, Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los    Angeles, CA 2004   “Paintings & Drawings”, Art Share Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2003              “Abstract”, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA   Two Person Shows 2000      “Noise~Color~Form”, S.L.O. Gallery, Brewery Arts Complex, Los Angeles, CA   Three Person Show: 2005              “Pattern”, Revisited/Bamboo Lane, Los Angeles, CA Four Person Show: 2005               “Women’s Work”, Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2002              “Quartet”, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA   Group Shows 2006 Summer Survey Group Show, Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Create/Fixate “Venice Art Walk” Exhibition at Electric Lodge, Venice, CA Venice Art Walk and Auction Exhibition, Track 16, Santa Monica, CA “Fin”, Bedlam Art, Los Ange “Women in Art”, Bedlam Art, Los Angeles, CA The 2nd Gwang Hwa Moon Int’l Art Festiva, Sejong Center, Korea “On The Wall 2”, Eco-Logical Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 5th Annual Fresh stART Exhibition, Arena 1 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA “How It Happens”, Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA “Lyrics and Dialogue”, Gallery Revisited, Los Angeles, CA 2005 “Small Wonders”, Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA “Incognito”, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA “Night of 1,000 Drawings”, Artists Space, New York, NY “Post-Postcard 2005” by Outpost @ LACE, Los Angeles, CA                  “Create/Fixate” 4th Anniversary Exhibition at Spring Arts Tower, Los Angeles, CA “Hangin’ for Holidays”, Acuna-Hansen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA                  “Crafting the Los Angeles Experience”, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA “The Living” by the Pandemonium Collective, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA                  “City-scape, Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles, CA  “Blue”, Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA                                  “Five Years on Hillhurst”, Bedlam Art, Los Angeles, CA “Off The Wall”, Deja Design, Los Angeles, CA “Snap to Grid”, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA “More Patterns”, Bamboo Lane/Revisited, Los Angeles, CA “Outside the Box”, Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Inside the Box”, Bert Green Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA 2004      Gallery Row Group Show, Los Angeles, CA.  “Breaking Ground” by the Pondemonium Collective, Selah Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.    “By 1”, Transport Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Fundraising show, Square Blue Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA “Incognito”, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA “Night of 1,000 Drawings”, Artists Space, New York, NY 2003     “Break”, Gallery Asto, Los Angeles, CA.  “New Year’s Eve Exhibition”, Bedlam Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.  “Shikishi Exhibition”, Doizaki Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.  Summer Exhibition, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA.  Atelierzero Exhibition at Gallery Asto, Los Angeles, CA.    Publications 2006 Tema Celeste, “Made in Los Angeles” January issue, p. 56, written by Shana Nys Dambrot LA Downtown News, January 9 issue, p. 16, written by Lea Lion 2005 Flavorpill LA, November 29-December 5 issue “Create:Fixate Four Year Anniversary” LA Downtown News, November 28 issue, front cover, p.1 “Create/Fixate” Fusicology: Los Angeles event list, November “Create:Fixate” .ISM, Autumn 05 issue, Artwork credit and Pharmaka article, written Kevin Staniec Socal.com November 22 issue, written by Sergio Martinez Night of the Living Special Publication, October 29, written by Laura Roberts The Argonaut, October 20, Entertainment section Italian Elle Décor, September issue Larchmont Chronicle, July 29, “City-scapes” in gallery guide section LA Downtown News, July 4 issue, p. 14 AbsoluteArts, July 6, issue online Angeleno Magazine, ‘Visual Arts’, p.48, written by Peter Frank 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, Artwork credit, January, p.32 2004 Los Angeles Magazine, Downtown issue, p.60-61, written by Leslie Komaiko

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