Shu Kuroki

Shu Kuroki (born 1965, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese contemporary printmaker working in a distinctive hybrid medium that combines woodblock and lithographic techniques on cloth, designated in his catalogue as 'cloth graph / woodblock lithograph' (布版画 / 木版画リトグラフ). He trained at Tama Art University in Tokyo, studying under Seishi Kozaku, and is currently based in his birth prefecture of Miyazaki — an unusual geographic choice within the Tokyo-centric contemporary print scene that reflects an established regional independent practice.

His mature work, exemplified by 'Touch-133' (2025, 73 × 67 cm) shown at the 68th CWAJ Print Show 2025, continues a long-running 'Touch' series that has reached over 130 numbered prints. The series numbering at 133 indicates a sustained body of work — comparable in scale to Ikuhiro Kugo's 'below ground' or Miyayama Hiroaki's 'In the Garden of Genji' — that has been refined across many years of variation. The 'Touch' title and the cloth-graph / woodblock-lithograph hybrid technique together suggest a tactile, surface-engaged practice in which the print's relationship to its substrate (cloth rather than paper) is part of the artistic content.

The 'cloth graph' medium designation is unusual in contemporary Japanese printmaking. Most Japanese printmakers work on washi (handmade Japanese paper) or, occasionally, on Western-tradition paper; Kuroki's choice of cloth as the printed substrate is distinctive and points to an interest in fabric, textile, and surface texture that aligns with his series title 'Touch.' The combination of woodblock and lithograph techniques on a single sheet allows for the precise crisp line of woodcut paired with the softer continuous tonality of lithograph — a technical hybridity that maintains his work's recognizable visual signature.

Kuroki's training under Seishi Kozaku at Tama Art University connects him to a senior Tokyo printmaking lineage. Kozaku is a senior contemporary Japanese printmaker associated with Tama Art University; Kuroki's discipleship places him within a transmission line that has shaped a number of contemporary printmakers active across Tokyo and the southern Japanese prefectures. His relocation back to Miyazaki for his current practice is a less-common pattern among Tama Art University alumni, who tend to remain in Tokyo.

The near-square 73 × 67 cm sheet size of his recent prints is well-suited to the 'Touch' subject — square or near-square formats provide a balanced compositional ground for tactile-and-textural compositions in a way that strongly horizontal or vertical formats do not. The contemplative scale and the cloth substrate together generate a quiet, surface-attentive presence that distinguishes his work from the more graphic or chromatically diverse contemporary Japanese print practice.

Within the contemporary Japanese print scene Kuroki represents one of the more unconventional technical practices: the artist who has chosen a hybrid medium and a non-paper substrate, and who has sustained that practice over more than 130 prints across a long career. His Tama Art University training and his current Miyazaki base together illustrate the geographic-and-technical pluralism of the contemporary Japanese print scene.