FRAGIO, an artist represented by the contemporary art gallery "YUGEN Gallery (Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo; operated by Gene Co., Ltd.)," will hold a solo exhibition "Seed Fire" at gallery yolcha in Kita-ku, Osaka from Saturday, August 31, 2024 to Monday, September 23, 2024 (national holiday).
*As of August 2024, the artist name "Masumi Iwakawa" has been changed to "FRAGIO."
At the age of 16, he discovered the saxophone and started learning jazz, which led to his musical career. At the same time, he began to teach himself how to paint. He felt a different kind of stimulation and freedom from music in the expression of combining colors and weaving and overlapping lines, and he became absorbed in painting.
Wanting to make a name for himself in the world of painting, he traveled to the United States alone in 2013. He began his work in a room in New York that was once owned by Andy Warhol and once belonged to Jean-Michel Basquiat, turning it into a studio. Just one month after arriving in the United States, he held a solo exhibition.
"I feel that the blood-pumping sensation I get when I move my brush and apply color is similar to that of playing the saxophone. I am convinced that life is burning in me, just like when I paint a line or paint a brush. My style as an artist has been greatly influenced by music," he says. The colors that are released in an electrifying vibration and the lines that are drawn like unwavering melody evoke the feeling of music.
After that, FRAGIO moved to Berlin, Germany, and traveled to Europe and Asia, where his creative endeavors have always been deeply connected to travel. His experiences of opening up to animals living in nature and to the people of the places he visited on his travels inspire him to paint and play music. Regardless of whether his work is abstract or concrete, he resists the tendency to turn things into information, and puts the rawness of his work, just before it becomes words, onto the canvas...
In this way, music and the experiences of traveling become the source of my creativity, from which I depict the intangibles of life and love, aiming to communicate through my works beyond words and symbols.
FRAGIO also gave birth in 2020, and the mystery of life has given her new life. Please enjoy this work that stirs the viewer's sensibilities like a saxophone blow.
Exhibition Overview
"Starter Fire"
Period: Saturday, August 31, 2024 to Monday, September 23, 2024 (National Holiday)
Time: 13:00-19:00 (Sundays only: 12:00-19:00)
Location: Gallery Yolcha | FLAT space (1-1-14 Toyosaki, Kita-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture)
Yolcha fare system (purchase a ticket for ¥300 | same amount can be used at cafe)
