Fukuko harris: My Present Heritage

EXHIBITION DATES: March 4 - March 29, 2025

Opening RECEPTION: Thursday, march 6, 5 - 8 pm

Closing RECEPTION: Saturday, march 29, 4 - 6 pm

The Painting Center is pleased to present My Present Heritage, a solo exhibition of works by artist Fukuko Harris in the Project Room. The exhibition opens on Tuesday, March 4, and runs through March 29, 2025. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, March, from 5 to 8 pm.

Fukuko Harris was born and raised in Tokyo. Like other Japanese children, Harris cherished her heritage's folktales, some more than a thousand years old. These tales have had an influence on Harris' life and imagination as an artist. Almost all them have been retold in anime-a style of Japanese animation that became popular in the 1980s. A reflection of anime's "colorful graphics, expressive characters, and action packed plots" can be experienced in Harris' lively three dimensional multimedia sculpture as playful, abstract, visual narrative drawings in space.

The idea of incorporating the heritage of Japanese folk tales and the worldwide popularity of anime into her artwork was not something Harris ever thought about until a few years ago when she saw "The Tale of Princess Kaguva," an anime historical fantasy based on an ancestral story. It was then that Harris felt the urge to bring forth images from her childhood kept inside her whole life. These images, now incorporated into Harris' sculptures, are a meaningful part of her present heritage.