Gajin Fujita

To create “Invincible Kings of This Mad Mad World” (2017), one of his largest works to date, Fujita realized the imagery using spray paint applied with meticulously hand-cut stencils, and paint markers to achieve greater detail. The graffiti-style lettering was inscribed by Fujita, along with other members of K2S and KGB, including PRIME, SKAN, CRAZE, CAB, TAKE, DEFER, 382, SLICK, RELIC and HELP. A native of East L.A., Gajin Fujita first established himself on the streets of Los Angeles with graffiti crews KGB and K2S, but his earliest artistic impulses were informed by his father, who was a painter, and his mother, a conservator of Japanese antiquities. Rooted in those collective aesthetics, Fujita continued his artistic pursuits to earn a BFA from Otis College of Art + Design and an MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In his works, Fujita pulls from his Japanese and American cultural backgrounds to construct imaginary realms where opposing elements might coexist. Gilded, golden surfaces are desecrated with graffiti, while traditional Japanese icons are brandished with Western contemporary motifs.