Illustration, 1977
"Artists of my generation tend to try things that are beyond their genres.
A crossbreeding of different styles results and distinctions among different art forms
become blurred. Artists often feel that they can leap into different genres and explore
an unknown world. If we take fine art and graphic design more openly, a theatrical space
is also an artistic space. But in today's age of specialization, it might be only us,
the "WWⅡ generation" who started from a wide stretch of burned ruins,
that have this conception about artistic styles." Kiyoshi Awazu
Hokusai patterns and awazu colors, 1981
On April 29th last year, Kiyoshi Awazu died of pneumonia in Kawasaki, Japan
at the age of 80. A self taught painter and graphic designer, Awazu was a man full
of curiosity and imagination. Born in Tokyo, he started working at 12, and soon
became interested in Christianity, philosophy, communism and western cinema.
At 18 he started to teach himself drawing by copying from old art magazines and sketching
fellow commuters on the train to work. At 21 he started working in the animation field
making rough sketches, and at 25 had his first opportunity to design a poster,
commissioned by a theater group. He went on to become a famous multifaceted
graphic designer and artist involved in book design, illustration, printmaking, painting,
sculpture, exhibition and urban design, playwriting, film production and art direction.
Awazu also wrote extensively on design and fine art. In 1981 he was the art director
of the fantastic "Great Japan Exhibition" at The Royal Academy of Arts in London.
In the same year he held the "Kiyoshi Awazu One Man Show-Printed Works" at
50 Earlham St. Gallery in London, and produced a series of 12 wood cut prints inspired
by traditional art forms titled "Reflections on Japanese Playing Cards".
All the information and card pictures come from the well designed and extensive
Kiyoshi Awazu website, where you can learn and see a lot more of this wonderful artist.
January
February
June
July
October
November
And if you haven't seen them already, check out the posts featuring Awazu's more
wildly experimental artworks at A Journey Round my Skull's and But it Does Float.
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