Simon Fujiwara Sunset Rendez-Vous with Who?, 2024

The painting Sunset Rendez-Vous with Who? is part of a larger project of Simon Fujiwara, featuring his original cartoon character Who the Bær as they explore different iconic artworks throughout art history. In this series Who is immersed in a world inspired by the nude paintings of the Chinese-born painter Sanyu (1895-1966).

Fujiwara’s work uses acrylic and pastel to outline the figures against a simple, nearly monochromatic, background, thereby also keeping his character Who the main focus. The figures appear in different poses and versions, their common characteristic of them being their oversized tongues and the various yellow liquids swirling around their bodies and leaving traces on them. In this work a version of Bear in a female form is posing on their side, with their head tilted down. Their oversized tongue sticks out and with it drops of honey dripping to the floor. On the right side of the scene there is a vertical sign that reads WHO? This work is inspired by by Sanyu’s nude paintings and the color palette used by Fujiwara is very similar to the one that Sanyu used for his nude series of paintings.

Born in 1895 in China, Sanyu (or Chang Yu) moved to Paris in 1920. The series of nude paintings to which Fujiwara refers, were created during the 1950s in France where he spent most of his life until his death in 1966. Sanyu was especially known for his style of depicting nudes in a style that combines eastern and western artistic influences. His oeuvre has gained worldwide esteem and his paintings routinely achieve high auction results today.

Through this series Who the Bear once again finds themselves in a search of their identity. They explore nudity, transform and venture into new pictorial worlds, bodies and genders and we become spectators in the characters search for meaning.

Index:

Sanyu, Nude, 1950s