Demon Slayer
2015
This monumental six panel work by Gajin Fujita fuses traditional Japanese ukiyo e imagery with contemporary graffiti and street art culture. A fierce warrior rides a leaping tiger across the composition while battling demons rendered in vivid blues and reds, all set against a ground of layered urban tags, scrawled text, and a heavy metal band logo. Fujita employs spray paint, paint markers, and precious metal leaf including 12k white gold, 24k gold, and platinum to create a richly textured surface that bridges centuries of artistic tradition. The work is on loan to the Crow Museum of Asian Art and courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, CA.
- Medium
- Spray paint, paint markers, Mean Streak, 12k white gold, 24k gold and platinum leaf on wood panels
- Dimensions
- Signed
- Yes
- Spotted At
- Museum · Crow Museum of Asian Art
Notes
6 panels, overall: 60 x 108 x 1 3/4 in. Loan accession number: L2025.10.1. Copyright Gajin Fujita. Artist is Japanese-American, b. 1972.
Artists in conversation
Takashi Murakami
Japanese · b. 1962
Murakami similarly fuses traditional Japanese iconography including samurai, demons, and classical ukiyo-e imagery with contemporary pop and street culture aesthetics, often applying gold leaf and luxurious materials alongside bold graphic imagery on large scale panels.
RETNA
American · b. 1979
RETNA integrates dense layers of calligraphic script and graffiti derived lettering as a primary visual ground beneath figurative imagery, directly paralleling Fujita's technique of building compositions over layered urban tags and scrawled text with spray paint and markers.
Audrey Kawasaki
American · b. 1982
Kawasaki paints on wood panels using a hybrid visual language that merges Japanese woodblock print aesthetics and manga influenced figuration with Western lowbrow and street art sensibilities, producing richly detailed surfaces that echo Fujita's collision of traditional Japanese imagery with contemporary urban culture.
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