Yuji Hiratsuka was born in Osaka, Japan and educated in art education and printmaking at Tokyo Gakugei University (B.S.), New Mexico State University (M.A.) and Indiana University (M.F.A.). He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Printmaking at Oregon State University.

Combining chine colle and etching, Hiratsuka creates images which draw from the ancient and the contemporary to express the mismatched combinations and hodgepodge which is Japanese daily life. His influences are the art of Zen, which was an art of suggestion rather than expression, and the Ukiyo-e school, which developed a popular art form of caricatures of national personalities which were inexpensively designed and reproduced for common people.

Hiratsuka's work has received myriad awards and is included in numerous collections including the Tokyo Central Museum, The British Museum and the Cincinnati Art Museum.

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