FUMIKO AMANO

"Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a
music school?"--John Cage

Every city is filled with sounds that combine to form a sonic landscape. I
have spent time in many different cities and have always been interested in
the sonic landscapes of urban areas. I grew up in Tokyo during the smoggy
70's and was annoyed and depressed by the yellow flags that signaled
dangerous pollution levels in the air. But along with the pollution came a
sonic landscape of cars, sirens and trains that I truly enjoyed. It was an
environment that seemed natural to me.

I began taking piano lessons when I was three years old and feel that
classical music provided a sound structure that helped me decode the sonic
landscape that was evolving around me. I didn't realize at the time that
these industrial sounds were being incorporated into modern musical scores.

Sound is my inspiration. Sounds fill my canvases. I turn sound into color.
Many classical composers have taken a similar route and have created charts
that assign colors to notes.

I decided to create visual images inspired by urban noise after I saw
Michiyoshi Inoue conduct a performance by a symphony orchestra by pointing
at different parts of a large painting. The colors and textures of the
painting became intertwined with the music. I was also inspired by John
Cage's use of notation in Water Music. His musical score looked more like a
drawing than a traditional score.

All of my recent paintings have been composed using collage techniques. I
feel like a modern DJ when I am painting. I cut and paste from various
ready-made sources to create a work with new meaning and a sense of history.
I have incorporated architecture, Japanese comics, dreams, beat poetry and
sound into my latest series of paintings. Enjoy!

RESUME

Born: 08/03/1968, Tokyo, JAPAN

Education:
2000 California Design College, Los Angeles, Certificate
Program-Fashion Design/CAD
1993 University of Wisconsin, BA-Art & Design, Painting and
Printmaking
1989 Tokyo Women's College, Tokyo, AD-English Literature

Selected Exhibitions: GROUP SHOWS

2002 Quartet Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2001 Shikishi Exhibition Doizaki Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2000 Noise-Color-Form SLO Gallery, Brewery Arts Complex, Los
Angeles, CA
Pacific Rim II: The Far East, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA
East/West Design, Doizaki Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1999 Last Spring, Dirt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
When Voices Become Pictures, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Terrain Newport VI, Island Arts, Newport, RI

1998 Skatelore Expo: California Skate(Board)ing Index to Concepts,
Forms, Life, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
Soon, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1997 JCB Exhibition, Walter Wickiser Gallery, NYC, NY

1996 Dining Room, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA

WORKS