Makoto Fujimura is a painter drawing on ancient Japanese and recent New York City traditions. He is also the founder of the International Arts Movement, and served a member of the United States' National Council on the Arts from 2003 to 2009.

Critic David Gelertner wrote in The Weekly Standard: "Makoto Fujimura's paintings are a joyful gusher from a well that had long run dry ... (he is a) superb artist who does honor to the Japanese traditions he uses, and helps fan life back into several magnificent western traditions--traditions as new as abstract expressionism, as old as Christian art."

Critic Robert Kushner wrote in Art in America, "The idea of forging a new kind of art, about hope, healing, redemption, refuge, while maintaining visual sophistication and intellectual integrity is a growing movement, one which finds Fujimura's work at the vanguard."