Tadashi Kato

Tadashi Kato (born 1953, Tochigi) is a Japanese intaglio printmaker working in etching, with a sustained practice based in Saitama Prefecture. His selection in the 68th CWAJ Print Show in 2025 with 'Flowing,' a 39 × 47 cm etching from 2025, places him within the established cohort of senior Japanese intaglio printmakers circulating through the principal Tokyo-area juried exhibition channels in the mid-2020s.

Kato received his training at Musashino Art University, one of the principal private Japanese art universities and a major training ground for Japanese contemporary printmakers since its postwar expansion. The Musashino Art University printmaking program is well established across multiple media — woodcut, intaglio, lithography, silkscreen — and Kato's training in the program situates him within a substantial cohort of contemporary Japanese print artists operating in the greater Tokyo region.

The Tochigi-born, Musashino-trained, Saitama-resident pattern of Kato's career trajectory is characteristic of a generation of Kanto-region Japanese printmakers whose lives traverse multiple Tokyo-area prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the principal home of contemporary Japanese print activity, with concentrations of print studios, art universities, and exhibition venues across Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Tochigi, and Ibaraki Prefectures.

Kato's chosen medium is etching, the foundational copperplate intaglio technique that has been a principal channel for Japanese contemporary print since the medium's introduction through Western art education in the late nineteenth century. The title 'Flowing' suggests a subject focused on water, fluid motion, or atmospheric movement — a recurring subject category in Japanese contemporary intaglio that lends itself well to the etched-line and aquatint tonal-modeling combination.

The 39 × 47 cm sheet size is a moderate horizontal etching plate. The CWAJ catalog assigned 'Flowing' Print No. 061 in the 68th edition.

Further biographical detail beyond the CWAJ Print Show entry — Kato's broader exhibition history, gallery representation, museum holdings, and earlier work — is not currently surfaced through the public-facing English-language channels. The Musashino Art University alumni network, Saitama-area exhibition records, and Japan Print Association membership rolls would be the principal next-step research targets for extending this bio. Disambiguation note: 'Tadashi Kato' is a common Japanese name and several distinct artists share this romanization; the bio above attaches specifically to the printmaker selected by the 68th CWAJ Print Show 2025 catalog with the documented Musashino Art University training and Saitama residence.