Wako, Shuji

Born: 1953, in Sendai Japan
Medium: Lithograph

After graduation from Tokyo University of Art and Design, and teaching at that institution, Wako now works full time on printmaking in his Tokyo home. His mastery of technique was learned under the guidance of Japan’s leading lithographer Takeshi Hara. Wako executes faultless lithographic prints in a realistic style that seems to create true three dimensionality.

Typically the works are done with a deep velvety black background, and often combine images of rich Japanese fabrics, origami (folded paper) creations, and traditional handicraft objects. Wako delights in toys, games, puzzles and mazes, but his focus is not limited, and fanciful balloons, an ordinary air letter (with real stamps) and fanciful puzzling structures reminiscent of Escher are also depicted. His is a striking approach at finding aesthetic beauty in disparate subjects, and artfully combining the traditional with the contemporary. The artist characterizes his prints as “expressing the inner sense of Japanese tradition, but seen through my modern eyes.” Wako is not a particularly prolific artist, usually doing fewer than ten different editions each year. In 2000 he completed his one hundredth print.

Exhibitions:
Japan Print Association--Prize Winner in 1980, 1983
CWAJ Print Show, Tokyo--annually since 1980
Rockford International Biennale
Taiwan International Print Biennial, Republic of China
One-man shows, Tokyo
Pusan Biennial, Korea
Retretti, Finland
Kanagawa International Independents Print Exhibit
Cincinnati Art Museum

Collections:
The British Museum, London
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio
Rockefeller Foundation, New York
Singapore National Museum, Singapore
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Hamburg Museum of Arts and Crafts, Germany