We are pleased to announce that WALLS TOKYO will be hosting Akira Fujimoto’s solo exhibition Frozen Echoes from July 3 to 26, 2025.
Fujimoto has produced numerous works centered around the theme of energy.
This exhibition, his second at our gallery, will feature new paintings that crystallize his unique perspective on energy in contemporary society.

2025.7.3 thu - 2025.7.26 sat
open: wed-sat　12:00 - 19:00
closed: sun, mon, tue

 

 

My 13- and 11-year-old children are always absorbed in YouTube and social media. As a parent, I sometimes tell them to stop—but in reality, they seem to be losing track of time beyond their own will. Before I know it, I find myself in the same state, and when I snap out of it, I can hardly remember what I had been watching.
In the past, people used energy by converting it into mobility and comfort. But now, I feel we may be shifting into an era where energy is increasingly used for the sharing and consumption of personal information. It seems as though energy is becoming almost synonymous with information.
In this solo exhibition Frozen Echoes, I attempt to depict our present state—constantly spending energy and losing time—by bringing into resonance two bodies of work: Perpetual Energy, which visualizes the amplification of information generated by individuals, and Replacement, which depicts how vague, echo-like fragments of information are consolidated and controlled as data. Akira Fujimoto

 

Many works by the Gutai Art Association—a postwar Japanese avant-garde group—embody inner energy through a direct, almost physical confrontation with materials. The years in which Gutai was active, from 1954 to 1972, coincided with Japan’s period of rapid economic growth. One cannot help but feel that these artists absorbed the energy of the era and released it as artistic expression.
Energy remains a vital element of social infrastructure, but the way we perceive it has changed. Whereas energy once symbolized "speed and power," today it is increasingly associated with "sustainability and harmony"—a reflection of growing concerns about environmental impact and economic balance. As digitalization permeates every aspect of life, energy has become so seamlessly integrated into our daily routines that its presence often escapes our conscious awareness. It is ever-present, yet almost invisible.
Scientifically, energy is defined as the ability of an object to perform work—such as moving something or causing change. Each time energy changes form, entropy increases. This irreversible rise in entropy causes energy to follow a one-way flow of degradation. In theory, time can move in both directions, but in reality, it moves only forward because all physical phenomena obey the second law of thermodynamics—an increase in entropy through energy transformation.
Fujimoto intervenes in this temporal property of energy, embedding noise into the natural order. In his Replacement series, splattered pigments are not layered in chronological sequence. He peels these fragments from film and reassembles them on canvas, weaving them up and down across time. In the Perpetual Energy series, micro-moments of pigment blending are digitally magnified and re-rendered. By intentionally manipulating these chance occurrences, he enters a loop where the accidental seems planned yet still retains its randomness.
Harnessing uncontrollable forces—or even resisting the laws of nature—Fujimoto’s work opens new doors of perception. And perhaps, in these works, we catch a glimpse of ourselves: beings constantly shifting between the digital and the physical, between information and reality.

 

Akira Fujimoto  / Artist
Born in Tokyo in 1975. Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, and after working at FABRICA (Italy). He develops paintings, installations, and art projects using various methods with motifs of environmental and social phenomena based on energy. Major activities include “NEW RECYCLE®” , “2021” , “Marine Debris” and “FUTURE MEMORY” on the theme of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and its memory. Major exhibitions include “TOKYO 2021” “Sonoaida #Shin Yurakucho” and “Babel of the Ocean. and organized ’ Sonoaida” which utilizes urban gaps as sites for artist activities Since 2015.
vimeo: https://vimeo.com/akirafujimoto
sonoaida: https://sonoaida.jp

 

【Selected Exhibitions (Recent Years)】
2025
Perpetual Energy #02 / mural, Kashima Stadium, Ibaraki

2024
Future Memory – Tricycle,
Collection of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva
FUTURE MEMORY, Gallery G, Hiroshima
FUTURE MEMORY, Haiku House, New York
Sonoaida #Nihonbashi, (Mitsui Fudosan) Nihonbashi Muromachi 162 Building 2F, Tokyo (–2025)
Sonoaida #TOKYO MIDTOWN AWARD, Nihonbashi Muromachi 162 Building 1F, Tokyo

2023
Mineralization, KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY, Tokyo
Soap Bubble Surface, Roppongi Tsutaya Books BOOK GALLERY, Tokyo

2022
Babel of the Sea, WATOWA Gallery, Tokyo
Convenience Chain, WALLS TOKYO, Tokyo
FREE RECOIL – Jiyū Handō, YUGEN Gallery, Tokyo
Refraction of Reality, KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY, Tokyo

2021
Sonoaida #Shin-Yurakucho, Shin-Yurakucho Building 1F, Tokyo (–2023)

2019
2021#ANTEROOM KYOTO, Gallery 9.5, HOTEL ANTEROOM KYOTO, Kyoto
Land-Based Marine Debris, Gallery A4, Tokyo

2018
Ghosts of the 20th Century, KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY, Tokyo

2015
HEYDAY NOW, COURTYARD HIROO Garou, Tokyo

2014
Energy Translation Now, UltraSuperNew Gallery, Tokyo