He painted the picture in red, yellow, blue, white, and black, using his fingers, and the outlines were made with the only brush he had, having finished the work in the size of 10x14 inches (27x 35.5 cm).
"[11] At this time, he had contact with several artists, such as Milton Dacosta, Inimá de Paula, Quirino Campofiorito, Van Rogger, and Di Cavalcanti, and began to attend the National School of Fine Arts in 1942, where he audited courses.
[1][12] Tikashi began to improve his techniques of "dessin", which consists of drawing the lines and outlines of objects and human figures, making several nude studies.
Seibi-kai's objective was to encourage the growth of the fine arts among the Japanese through monthly sessions of discussion, commentary and criticism, exchange with artists from Brazil and Japan, as well as holding exhibitions.
[32] In the same year, the second exhibition of the Guanabara group was held at the Institute of Architects of Brazil, in São Paulo[1] and he received a bronze medal at the National Modern Art Salon.
[39] Ivo Zanini describes Fukushima's transition from figurativism to abstractionism as follows: "For several years (from 1946 to 1960) he moved through figurativism, when he founded in São Paulo, in the neighborhood of Paraíso, the Guanabara Group, which brought together artists already in full coexistence with the oscillations of modern art" and continues, exemplifying the themes of the paintings:[40] But abstractionism, already widely practiced in Europe and the USA, would not take long to co-opt Fukushima, as happened with numerous other figurative artists of the time.
The search now was for shapes and constructions that transcended the figure and for colors, placid or ardent, that could manifest only conjunctural harmony (...) It was by focusing on the need for figurative-informal unfolding, concerned with painting with spontaneity in the quest to transmit sensations and inner truth, based on gesturalism, that Tikashi Fukushima researched and embarked on abstractionism.
Artists such as Mabe and Tikashi Fukushima were able to contribute decisively to the development of this abstract trend,[41] In fact, abstractionism is where the most important and most productive phase of their work can be found.
Matter is his main characteristic, of exceptional richness, with wonderful chromatic variations, using new or little used materials and techniques in our medium, achieving results of great beauty and poetry.
[36] In the same year, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper points out: "Fukushima's works have systematically appeared in the collective exhibitions of the Japanese colony in this capital and modern art salons, and the painter has been distinguished with several prizes.
The newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, of February 25, 1961, published the opinion of the director of this museum: "His extreme virtuosity as a painter sometimes appears in all its strength, because one feels in this the pleasure of the virtuoso in overcoming difficulties".
He also stated that "Fukushima has from his people and culture, the figure of detail, extreme virtuosity in finishes, and a refinement of sensibility" and ended by saying that "everything is overcome by the optimistic impetus, the perennial song of life that is the very essence of his painting.
"[48] Also in February, Jornal do Brasil published a text by art critic Mário Pedrosa, in which he commented on the way Fukushima painted: "He works by first taking notes, which he ends up fixing on a point, from where sudden suggestions come to him.
[37] In the same year, José Geraldo Vieira commented again about his taste in painting and quoted Fukushima saying that "Of course when I speak of landscape, I am not referring to the realism of nature transferred to the canvas by the objective painters or by impressionists of the level of Pissarro or Sisley.
[33] Paolo Maranca wrote for the newspaper UH that: "In this year's Salon, Fukushima will again plead for the grand prize, of which he is the most quoted candidate, according to the unanimous opinion of the critics.
He also had his work presented in the "Japanese Artists of Brazil" exhibition in Oakland, United States, and in the 8th São Paulo Art Biennial, where he received an award from Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Among other excerpts Vieira described:[58] Until recently, Fukushima's painting sought to synthesize, as seen in "vol d’oiseau" ("as the crow flies"), one of these ermine landscapes, without lanterns, without human figures, without idols.
[59] When back in Brazil, he began to paint the Quatro Estações ("Four Seasons") series of abstracts, where he illustrated the mountains, the movement of the winds, and the waves of the sea of the island of Honshu, Japan.
Even the violent movements of fleeing colors are always contained by a deeply poetic and elegant atmosphere.In 1971, four solo exhibitions were organized, one in Brasília and two in Rio de Janeiro,[37] and in March of the same year, the Pan-American Union dedicated a solo exhibition to Fukushima in Washington D. C.[61] In the same year, Walter Zanini, who at the time was director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo,[62] brother of the also critic Ivo Zanini,[63] wrote about Fukushima's work stating: "using impressionistic means at first, he moved on to more conceptual painting, influenced by Cubism assimilated to the fanciful contemplativeness of his mind.
He paved the way for a more intuitive and informal space where goldens, blacks, and especially greens and reds find the most delicate diapasons, associated and placed in complementary oppositions..."[64] 1972 was the year that Seiki-kai ended its activities.
"[61] In the same year, Fukushima was on the jury of the 4th Bunkyo Salon, alongside Manabu Mabe, Kichizaemon Takahashi, Massao Okinaka, Masumi Tsuchimoto, Yutaka Toyota, and Bin Kondo.
[33] Art in the 1980s was influenced by the aesthetics of other artists and also by the actions of pioneers, such as Tomoo Handa, abstractionists, as well as Manabu Mabe, Tikashi Fukushima, Tomie Ohtake, Kazuo Wakabayashi, and others.
"[74] Collectively, in the same year, his work was present in the "6th Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition," which took place in the cities of Atami, Kyoto, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Tokyo.
Zanini described the paintings in the exhibition in such a way that they "often fragment themselves into supposed episodes that vary from the real to the oneiric, from the telluric to the cosmic" and the final result of his work the artist "achieves with security, joining to his elaborations eastern and western mysticism".
[79] The same issue emphasized that the "importance given to the work of Mabe, Fukushima, and Shiró attracted a new wave of Japanese artists to Brazil, who arrived in the country mature and with established aesthetic positions.
[33] The newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo of December 16, 1989, stated that in Brazilian art the Japanese-Brazilians stood out within the so-called informal abstractionism, the adepts being Fukushima, Mabe, Wakabayashi, and Shiró.
"[33] On this exhibition, the renowned auctioneer Renato Magalhães Gouvêa[81] stated: "it was possible to gather works by the members of Grupo Guanabara and record their impressions offering a serious starting point for further studies.
[85] In 1998, Fukushima's work was shown at the Itinerant International Japan-Brazil Exhibition, which took place at the Clóvis Salgado Foundation - Palace of Arts, in Belo Horizonte, and at the Usiminas Cultural Center, in Ipatinga.
[1] An article in Veja magazine from 1970 reported some of the painter's habits at the time, such as "it is difficult to find Fukushima, even in his house in the distant district of Cidade Adhemar, where a miniature Japanese garden, on landscaped earth steps, recalls the oriental symbology of water, stone, and vegetation".
[66] Also in the year of the artist's death, Councilman Aurélio Nomura presented on December 13 the bill PJ 715-2001,[93] which became law number 13.507 of January 8, 2003, naming a previously unnamed space located on Avenida Politécnica, Butantã district, as Tikashi Fukushima Square.