Fram Kitagawa
Photo: Tadashi Okouchi
Fram Kitagawa
Born in 1946 in Niigata Prefecture, Fram Kitagawa is the representative of Art Front Gallery, general director of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennal, general director of Chichu Art Museum, professor of Joshibi University of Art and Design, director of Niigata City Art Museum, among other roles. A graduate of the Fine Arts Dept. of the Tokyo University of the Arts, he became involved in the serious confrontations of the student movement of the 1960s. While at university, he joined with fellow students in establishing a studio in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. After graduation he made a living on carpentry works and poster creation with fellow artists while continuing comprehensive social involvement through journals in the fields of art, publication, music and architecture as well as other arts.
In 1979, he opened Art Front Gallery as an exhibition gallery specializing in print art (moved to present location in Daikanyama Hillside Terrace in 1984 as an art shop and exhibition gallery). In 1980 he became head of the publisher Gendai Kikakushitsu, publishing over 300 books in the fields of art, architecture and the social sciences that contribute to active social debate.
He has also been active organizing exhibitions, including the first exhibition to introduce the works of Antonio Gaudi in Japan in 1978, which toured to 11 venues, a “Print Exhibition for Children” that traveled elementary and middle schools around Japan (1980), and he produced the “Apartheid NON! (No to Apartheid!) International Art Exhibition” (1988) that toured to 194 venues around Japan. In these ways he has taken social involvement through art beyond the confines of the conventional museum venue.
Kitagawa has also initiated numerous art projects related to urban, architectural and regional community development. These include the “Faret Tachikawa Art Project” (winner of the 1994 City Planning Institute of Japan (CPIJ) Award) placing public art in urban renewal projects, the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennal (2001 festival won the Furusato Event Grand Prix – Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award) that deals with the problem of depopulating communities. By initiating such programs one after another, he has continued to pioneer the field of regional community art projects. Among Kitagawa’s numerous awards and publications is his recent book Kibo no Bijutsu – Kyodo no Yume (Art as Hope – The Dream of Collaboration; publisher: Kadokawa Art Publications) is an important resource for recording 40 years of contemporary art movements. In 2007 he won The Japan Foundation Special Prizes for Arts and Culture.