Yuji Hiratsuka - prints and biography

Biography

Yuji Hiratsuka (b. 1954, Osaka, Japan) is a Japanese-American printmaker whose richly textured multi-color intaglio prints unite traditional Japanese aesthetics with contemporary Western imagery. For more than four decades he has developed a distinctive visual language that combines technical precision, vivid color, and quietly humorous narratives, earning international recognition as both an artist and educator.

Hiratsuka received a bachelor's degree in art education from Tokyo Teachers' University in 1978 before teaching art in Japan for several years. In 1985 he moved to the United States to pursue graduate studies in printmaking. He later joined the faculty at Oregon State University, where he taught printmaking, drawing, and book arts for more than three decades.

While his work reflects the influence of Japanese ukiyo-e prints in its decorative surfaces and expressive figures, it also embraces contemporary imagery and the visual culture of the West.

A master of color intaglio, Hiratsuka has developed a demanding process in which multiple colors are printed sequentially from a single copper plate. Between each printing the plate is reworked and prepared for the next color, creating images of exceptional richness and complexity. The combination of technical innovation and meticulous craftsmanship has become a hallmark of his work and has established him as one of the leading contemporary practitioners of the medium.

Hiratsuka's prints have been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and are represented in numerous public collections, including the British Museum, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Portland Art Museum, and many other institutions worldwide.

Related artists working with narrative figurative imagery and cultural symbolism:

Marjan Seyedin
Joel Nakamura
Rodolpho Morales