HOSOYA MASAYUKI
Linocut and etching. Born 1943 Tokyo. Ochanomizu Art School, Tokyo; Cherbourg Art School, France.
Although his teacher in Japan told him that he had no talent and tried to dissuade him from art, Hosoya ignored his advice and continued his studies. He went overseas in 1970 , spent one year in Paris, followed by a stay in New York. In 1972 he returned to France and studied at the Cherbourg Art School. He entered a competition sponsored by a French newspaper company and it was in this year that he sold his first piece of art work. Hosoya returned to Japan in 1973, and has lived in Kamakura since then.
On his return to Japan, Hosoya started to establish his name in his home country, and in the 1980’s showed at exhibitions throughout Japan. He has won several prestigious awards in Japan. In 1985 he won second prize in an international art contest in Belgium, and has shown his work in Switzerland and Lithuania. Hosoya has chosen to work with linocut and etching as his main printing technique, and portrays people in whimsical acts of dancing, circus training, talking to animals, or playing a musical instrument. His images are filled with a sense of humour and are almost caricature-like. The European influence on Hosoya’s work is evident in his often Picasso-like faces and portraits, and the fact that he sometimes utilises French words in his images, as well titling some of his work in French. However, he adds his Japanese dimension in printing his linocuts on thin Japanese washi paper, so that the fibre of the paper can be seen throughout the figures of his images. The artist that was dissuaded by his art teacher has become established in his own unique style and is recognised in private and public collections throughout Japan.
