Simon Fujiwara
°1982, London (UK) - lives and works in Berlin (DE)
The work of British-Japanese Simon Fujiwara offers a unique view into the mechanics of identity construction and the ‘industry of the individual’ in contemporary life. His works emerge from a personal grappling with the contradictions of inherited racial, national, historical, and cultural values. His most ambitious projects range from a full reconstruction of the Anne Frank House (Hope House, 2016–18) to the “re-branding campaign” for his former high school art teacher after a nude media scandal (Joanne, 2016), Fujiwara deftly navigates culturally potent topics with enigmatic and surprising approaches that broaden conversations and avoid didacticism. Through his multiple formal strategies, Fujiwara is able to use the tools of our hyper-mediated world—from advertising, and museum making to theme park design—to hold a distorted mirror to our contemporary, liberal societies possessed with spectacle, fantasy and authenticity.
(courtesy of Esther Schipper)
Simon Fujiwara - Who’s the Little Who in the Bigger Splash , 2021
Simon Fujiwara - Eve Who, 2021
Simon Fujiwara - Adam Who, 2021
Simon Fujiwara - Who's Identity Deep Dive, (Feeling Yellow, Feeling Blue), 2022
Simon Fujiwara - A True Account of Who the Baer, 2021
Installation view of Who the Baer at Fondazione Prada, Milan in 2021
Exhibition view of Who the Baer at Fondazione Prada, Milan in 2021
Simon Fujiwara - Likeness, 2018
Simon Fujiwara - Likeness, 2018
Simon Fujiwara - What Beyonce wore to the Anne Frank House, 2018
Fujiwara is the recipient of the 2010 Baloise Prize at Art Basel and the 2010 Frieze Cartier Award. He was shortlisted for the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2019.
Fujiwara’s recent solo exhibitions include Prada Aoyama, Tokyo; Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam; Fondazione Prada, Milan; Blaffer Art Museum, Dallas; Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris; Kunsthaus Bregenz; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Tate St. Ives, St. Ives; Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto; and Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf.
The artist’s work is represented in the collections of the American Embassy, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Sammlung Verbund, Vienna; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Prada Foundation, Milan; Leeds University, Leeds; and the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main.
Simon Fujiwara is represented by the following galleries;
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