“In an era of intense visual (and literal) noise, we desperately need a way to slow down and listen to the quiet…” Bruce Herman says in reflection as a co-creator to his exhibit “Into The Silence: Winter Into Spring” with Makoto Fujimura. Upon walking into the Large Gallery held in Barrington, the walls each only occupy one to three pieces.
With walls of humongous paintings, the eye is almost just drawn to one; the wrinkled face of an aged man is bristled onto a canvas. Titled “Osamu” by Fujimura, the piece offers tribute to Fujimura’s father using gold leaf detailing to contrast with the man’s expression. His face is flat, his eyes droop, and his mouth is almost down-turned. With that piece showing alone on a wall, the wall adjunct hangs a grand piece of red. It holds no characters, no faces, no expression. The 60” x 96” piece titled “Water Flames–Doe of the Dawn” is painted red, with occasional golf leaf pieces (a theme in Fujimura’s work in this exhibit). “After I became a ‘survivor’ of 9/11,” Fujimura says in reflection of living in New York City during the 2001 attack, “I faced such a turning point, and my art became for me one way to track a new trajectory,” he says.
On the wall across from “Water Flames” an even larger piece extended across the entirety of the wall, except it is only of blue, expressionless, characterless. Titled “Silence and Beauty,” the blue, green piece contradicts the red, providing a look of two worlds, almost symbolizing Heaven and Hell, joy and sorrow.
“May this exhibit encourage you, the viewer, to consider your own journey toward collaborative discoveries.” Fujimura says. “It’s a privilege and a joy to serve alongside [Fujimura] in the hope that a future generation of artists can likewise find a way to let down, to sit back, to make space for the other, “Herman adds.
The exhibit opened on the 27th of August and will close on October 15th, 2025.
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