Gajin Fujita is a graffiti artist whose work transcends boundaries and seamlessly blends the rich tapestry of Japanese tradition with the vibrant energy of Western urban culture.

In this episode, Fujita talks about his early days as a graffiti artist in tagging crews like KGB and KIIS and his current status as a major star in LA's downtown art scene. He also shares how he blends Japanese techniques and symbols with Western urban pop culture to create visually contrasting masterpieces that transcend space and time.

Born in 1972, Gajin Fujita is the son of Japanese parents – a fine art painter father and art conservator mother – who raised him and his brothers in Boyle Heights, a historic immigrant neighborhood just east of Downtown Los Angeles and the L.A. River. As a teenager, Fujita became fascinated with graffiti, joining the tagging crews KGB (Kidz Gone Bad) and KIIS (Kill to Succeed).

Through graffiti, Fujita followed his own path towards fine art and received his BA from Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, and his MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he found mentorship under art critic Dave Hickey. Reverence for Japanese art history and pride for his identity as an L.A. native assert equal importance in Fujita’s work. Lauded by Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times as “the most important 21st-century iteration of graffiti’s influence on art,” Fujita’s paintings incorporate graffiti language, traditional iconography drawn from Edo-period woodblock prints, and symbols of West Coast culture.