Gajin Fujita
L.A. L.A. Land, 2001, acrylic, spray paint, silver and gold leaf on wood panels, 18 x 41 inches, courtesy of L.A. Louver Gallery.

The interview was conducted by Dana Sunshine of TheArtBiz.com.

You started out doing graffiti murals and then earned your BFA and MFA. Was there any conflict between your self-taught graffiti background and the type of work you were supposed to be producing as an art student?

I went to Otis [College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA] so I had a fairly rigorous first year. They put you through a sort of boot camp and I thought I'd be able to do what I wanted. I had to adjust and blend in or else they wouldn't have passed me. It was private and I was dishing out a lot of money so I wanted to learn what they were teaching. My senior year was really when I got positive feedback and great instructors and guidance in my critiques. One instructor in particular, Scott Greiger really encouraged me to go to Las Vegas for my MFA.

How did you first get into graffiti?

Where I've grown up is a rough sort of neighborhood. There was always lots of graffiti that wound up on my Mom's walls. My brother and I were pretty mischievous and when I was 14 we enrolled in a magnet school and started busing to school. I went to a visual arts school. Just getting on the buses and public transportation, you couldn't avoid seeing all the graffiti. I just wanted to get my work up and seen.

Your work has been praised for "maneuvering a type of high art form into the utter dregs of the low with enthralling effect" [Julie Joyce, statement for "Hard-Boiled Wonderland," July 2001, Luckman Fine Arts Gallery, Los Angeles, California]. Do you feel you have to mitigate between the street-art and fine-art worlds? How do you handle that?

I don't know if I'm really mediating between the low and the high. I try to be myself first but I don't feel that I'm a representative of the street. There are so many people like that around here (LA). I'm just a small fish- there are so many great artists that came ahead of me. I have so much camaraderie on the street though. They recognize and appreciate that I'm taking this art to another level.

Between 1989 and 1993 you completed four murals, but you haven't done mural work since then. Why is that?

I've gotten smarter maybe. There's much more of a risk these days painting on the street. There are so many younger artists taking the form to its extremes. I'd rather be safe in my studio and working which seems to be all right and lucrative. I'll do commissions now. Once in a while I have the urge but the authorities are really cracking down and the fines are heavy. I don't have the time to be locked up. My crew has gotten older and we have more responsibilities so there's a lot more at risk now. Also, I have a place to show my work now and that was what's important.

You use elements of traditional Japanese erotic woodcuts, in your graffiti images. How did you first become aware of traditional Japanese art?

I give that credit to my parents. My father was a painter as well but he didn't reference the traditional imagery as I do. But both my Mom and Dad did restoration on older pieces and I was always amazed by the antiquities. Simple things like textile design were great eye candy for me. I've always liked the aesthetics of Japanese formal design; I'm always trying to mediate that interest with my interest in graffiti. I was able to meld these two interests into my work.

You mix spray paint with calligraphy, gold and silver-leaf with stencils...how did you discover your different materials? What does the combination of them do for your work?

I came upon the gold leafing as a traditional craft and I tried to relate the metal effect to the subways that were being bombed on in New York City in the 80's. Using the gold leafing I was making my own subway. When I went to visit Japan and I was walking though Kyoto, which is the most traditional city in Japan, I saw this pavilion, which was covered in gold leaf, and seemingly floating above a lake of water. It caught my attention right away. Art should be violating people's expectations and I thought, gosh, that would really be something if someone came and spray painted this shrine. I realized the need to set up my own surfaces.

What advice would you give to emerging artists?

To keep working on what you feel and stick with what you create. Keep working at what you want to see. It's also good to socialize or go to school so that the people you meet can provide stepping-stones for you as well. Production is key.

This article was originally created for TheArtBiz.com. It appears on NYFA Interactive courtesy of the Abigail Rebecca Cohen Library.