Simon Fujiwara Who Was Once a Hero Whose Bravery is Lost?, 2026

Who Was Once a Hero Whose Bravery is Lost?, executed in acrylic, charcoal and pastel on canvas, depicts a fairy-tale hero come undone. A blond prince, sweating and confused, grips his sword while his horse—its jointed, angular body verging on the mechanical—collapses into fragments around him, as if the machine were broken. Neither figure seems to know where to go. The princely hero on horseback, sword in hand, is one of the fairy tale’s oldest figures. The rescuer who slays the dragon, wakes the princess, and rides off toward a happy ending—an image cemented by the princes of Disney’s animated films. The painting’s title asks what remains of this figure when the bravery is lost: a hero without direction, and without a clear goal.