Yuji Hiratsuka: Retro Urban Mode

Yuji Hiratsuka utilizes a vivid palette to create imaginative and exaggerated figures that blend eastern and western imagery. The artist plays with the metaphorical aspects of his subjects and their settings by portraying the irony, paradox, and satire in people’s daily lives. These ambiguous and whimsical figures express human conditions such as mood, feeling, and thought through their simplified, exaggerated, or distorted forms. There is less of an emphasis on socio-cultural commentary and more of an emphasis on the placement and interplay of the visual effects. Hiratsuka’s flat, bright, and decorative multi-color intaglio prints are also inspired by traditional Japanese ukiyo-e woodcuts.

Yuji Hiratsuka was born in Osaka, Japan. He has a B.S. in Art Education from Tokyo Gakugei University, an M.A. in printmaking from New Mexico State University, and an M.F.A. in printmaking from Indiana University. For nearly 30 years, he was a Professor of Art at Oregon State University, Corvallis, and earned a Researcher of the Year award from the University in 1998. He has had nearly 60 solo shows in the United States, Korea, Canada, and Northern Ireland since completing his MFA. His work is in numerous public collections including the British Museum, United Kingdom; Tokyo Central Museum of Art; Państwowe Museum, Poland; The House of Humor and Satire, Bulgaria; Cincinnati Art Museum; The Cleveland Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum; The New York Public Library; Library of Congress; and the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art.