Yuji Hiratsuka

Yuji Hiratsuka is a distinguished contemporary printmaker known for his unique fusion of traditional Japanese aesthetics with Western drawing and printmaking techniques. Born in Osaka, Japan, in 1954, Hiratsuka originally studied at Tokyo Gakugei University, where he received his B.A. in Art Education. His early immersion in the artistic and cultural traditions of Japan would go on to deeply inform his visual vocabulary. After moving to the United States in 1985, he pursued graduate studies in printmaking, earning his M.F.A. from Indiana University in 1990. Since then, Hiratsuka has developed a signature style that blends East and West, ancient and modern, resulting in prints that are both visually whimsical and technically rigorous.

Hiratsuka’s work is perhaps best known for its refined use of delicate color palettes, and stylized, theatrical human figures. The figures in his work, often with mask-like faces and contorted bodies, exist in surreal or symbolic environments filled with patterned textiles, everyday objects, and architectural references.

Throughout his career, Hiratsuka has exhibited extensively in the United States and internationally, with solo and group shows in Europe, Asia, and South America. His prints are included in the permanent collections of numerous institutions, including The British Museum (London), The Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.), The Portland Art Museum (Oregon), and The Art Institute of Chicago.

Now based in Oregon, where he teaches at Oregon State University, Hiratsuka continues to produce new work that reflects a lifelong engagement with both the graphic arts and the narrative possibilities of the human figure. As an educator and artist, he occupies a unique place in contemporary printmaking: one rooted in tradition but open to playful experimentation and cultural hybridity.