Past

"...Undeniably echoing the Barque exaggerations of past Japanese prints depicting actors from the Kabuki theatre, particularly those of the artist Sharaku (fl. 1794-5) whose wood block prints depict contemporary actors in character conveying a sense of drama by distortion. Hiratsuka's figures seem to announce or celebrate particular performances, or portray emotions of the heart and body but with a contemporary update and twist. His actors are also spicy and taunt with tensions of desire and temptations. Set within luscious metaphorical landscapes, forbidden ripe fruit is offered, presented and indulged upon, venus fly traps and pitcher plants mirror in the participation of the carnivorous consumption and one can not help but to feel caught up in the indulgence and even perhaps excesses of life. They fill tightly cropped spaces, adding to the   heightened intensity of their depictions of human conditions.

There is also a bridging that happens in his prints; a bridge between the east and the west where traditions of the eastern past do not over shadow them being firmly rooted in Hiratsuka's western reflections and surroundings. Hiratsuka's use of contemporary western dress: the vests, short flirting skirts and clinging dresses articulate current fashions of today and speak of a global merging of cultures..." 

– excerpt from Yuji Hiratsuka: Hybrid Figures – exhibition essay by Carrie Phillips-Kieser