February 2, 2021

Text: Craig Kellogg

Noguchi Museum Opens “Futura Akari” Exhibition

Futura sprayed paint on Isamu Noguchi light sculptures for “Futura Akari” at The Noguchi Museum. Photography courtesy of The Noguchi Museum.

Graffiti painter Futura worked illegally outdoors in the 1970s—before his gallery shows with the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Recent Futura projects embellished mid-century chairs and Virgil Abloh Off-White Nikes. For “Futura Akari,” displayed through April 25 at The Noguchi Museum in New York, the painter sprayed and drew with markers on mulberry bark paper “Akari Light Sculptures” by Isamu Noguchi. 

Graffiti artist Futura holds a painted Noguchi light sculpture. Photography by ShiLei Wang.

“They were so fragile and pristine,” Futura marvels. The first batch is now in the museum collection, but he’s ordered more Akari for his studio. Will he paint them? “No,” he laughs. “I’ll live with pure ones.”

One of the painted Noguchi sculptures. Photography courtesy of The Noguchi Museum.
Futura drew with marker on some of the sculptures. Photography courtesy of The Noguchi Museum.

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