KY Making my own Paper 2021
Katsutoshi Yuasa
Making My Own Paper, Printing by Hand, and Seeing Through the Light, 2021
Holzschnitt mit wasserbasierter Tinte auf selbstgeschöpftem Japanpapier / woodcut with water-based ink on Japanese paper handcrafted by the artist
62 x 85 cm
Edition von / of 5
© Katsutoshi Yuasa / courtesy Micheko Galerie, München

Katsutoshi Yuasa

Seeing Through the Light

25.06.2022 – 04.09.2022

The Japanese artist Katsutoshi Yuasa (born 1978) shows coloured and black-and-white woodcuts from small format to wall installation in the Cabinet of the Museum Franz Gertsch. He works with photography and woodblock prints and incorporates contemporary elements into the works alongside timeless nature motifs.

The Japanese artist Katsutoshi Yuasa combines in his printed oeuvre the centuries-old tradition of Japanese woodcuts with today's digitalised world. Fleeting snapshots, photographed by the artist himself or taken from the media, form the basis of his woodcuts. In a time-consuming and labour-intensive creative process, he incorporates not only natural motifs but also contemporary elements, elevating them to timeless validity.

The artist visualises the process of memory in his prints, which he regards as an image medium that is connected to the past, the present and the future. For him, it remains a tool of conveyance: ‘Since the great earthquake in East Japan, we have understood that we live in an unstable world. While preparing for the next disaster, we live in harmony with nature and need to think seriously about what we want to carry into the future.’

In his exhibition in the Museum Franz Gertsch's Cabinet, the artist shows coloured and black-and-white woodcuts ranging in size from small to wall installation.

Katsutoshi Yuasa was born in Tokyo (J) in 1978. He graduated from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 2002 and received an MA in Fine Art Printmaking from the Royal College of Art in London in 2005. Since then, Yuasa has participated in prestigious artist residencies such as the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (Amsterdam), Cité des Arts (Paris) and the Kala Art Institute (Berkeley). His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and is included in numerous public collections. In 2011, he was awarded the main prize of the Northern Print Biennale as well as the Towry Print Prize in the UK. Yuasa lives and works in Tokyo and is a lecturer at Tama Art University in Tokyo.

The exhibition was curated by Anna Wesle in collaboration with the artist and Micheko Gallery, Munich.

The accompanying catalogue will be published by modo Verlag, Freiburg i. Br.

Link to the artist's website

Link to the gallery

The Japanese artist Katsutoshi Yuasa combines in his printed oeuvre the centuries-old tradition of Japanese woodcuts with today's digitalised world. Fleeting snapshots, photographed by the artist himself or taken from the media, form the basis of his woodcuts. In a time-consuming and labour-intensive creative process, he incorporates not only natural motifs but also contemporary elements, elevating them to timeless validity.

The artist visualises the process of memory in his prints, which he regards as an image medium that is connected to the past, the present and the future. For him, it remains a tool of conveyance: ‘Since the great earthquake in East Japan, we have understood that we live in an unstable world. While preparing for the next disaster, we live in harmony with nature and need to think seriously about what we want to carry into the future.’

In his exhibition in the Museum Franz Gertsch's Cabinet, the artist shows coloured and black-and-white woodcuts ranging in size from small to wall installation.

Katsutoshi Yuasa was born in Tokyo (J) in 1978. He graduated from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 2002 and received an MA in Fine Art Printmaking from the Royal College of Art in London in 2005. Since then, Yuasa has participated in prestigious artist residencies such as the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (Amsterdam), Cité des Arts (Paris) and the Kala Art Institute (Berkeley). His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and is included in numerous public collections. In 2011, he was awarded the main prize of the Northern Print Biennale as well as the Towry Print Prize in the UK. Yuasa lives and works in Tokyo and is a lecturer at Tama Art University in Tokyo.

The exhibition was curated by Anna Wesle in collaboration with the artist and Micheko Gallery, Munich.

The accompanying catalogue will be published by modo Verlag, Freiburg i. Br.

Link to the artist's website

Link to the gallery

Works