© Fumiko Toda

   On April 23rd, Safe-T-Gallery will be opening its exhibition of paintings and hand-worked prints, by young Japanese artist, Fumiko Toda. Combining traditional themes of Japanese woodcuts with an exuberant 21st century sense of color and line, Fumiko Toda brings an original verve to her examinations of nature, how people view nature, and how urban life and more pastoral visions collide.

   “Recent Insects” focuses on a recurring theme in Fumiko Toda’s work. Brought up in rural Japan, she would often collect and take home the various insects found in the neighboring fields and ponds. The intricate beauty, not to mention the activity, of these creatures re-emerges in her colorful prints and paintings. Whether it is a single portrait of a rather fanciful beetle, or a somewhat supercharged landscape with various insects parading through in multiple dimensions, the images retain a marvelous sense of wonder and the promise to be found in the larger world.

   Fumiko Toda studied art in Japan where she graduated from the Kyoto University of Art and Design. Shortly thereafter she moved to New York and has continued her studies at the National Academy of Design, where she has won numerous awards and scholarships. A suite of her prints was recently featured in Moloko+ magazine. Fumiko Toda was seen in Safe-T-Gallery’s “Brooklyn au Naturel” show in the summer of 2008. “Recent Insects” will be her first one-person show in New York.