Kōkei Tsuruya

Japanese

July 1946

Although born to a family of painters, Tsuruya Kōkei did not embrace art until age 32. He then named himself Tsuruya Kōkei, using the alternative reading, Tsu, of his given name Gen, and Kō from the given names of his grandfather Nakazawa Hiromitsu and father, Fujikawa Kōji. This act of transformative self-naming both distances and connects the artist from/to his artistic forebears. While Hiromitsu made elegant designs for woodblock prints of landscapes and beauties, Kōkei cuts and prints his own dynamic drawings of Kabuki actors, inspired by the mysterious 18th century artist Sharaku. From 1978 to 2000, Kōkei worked as resident artist at the renowned Kabukiza Theater, where actors also wrestle with living up to the family name and creating new identities. In 2000 Kokei began obsessively drawing self-portraits. In 2017 he returned to printmaking with a portrait series paying homage to the inspirational masters of ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world).