Keisei Kobayashi (Japanese, b. 1944) was born in Matsue, Japan in 1944. He graduated from the Institute of International Design in Kyoto. He has been a professor at Tama Art University since 1997 and serves as an honorary professor as of 2014. He also serves as the director of the Japan Print Association. Kobayashi is known for his wood engravings that depict the beauty and richness of nature against the excess and decay of modern civilization. His works incorporate layers of sea, sky, forest, and city with flora and fauna infused with both the natural and manmade. A renowned Japanese printmaker and pioneering figure of wood engraving, Kobayashi has represented ecological struggle with a humanistic spirit for decades. He has exhibited extensively internationally, most recently with solo exhibitions at ARDEL Gallery in Bangkok and the Palazzo La Marmora in Biella, Italy. Kobayashi’s work is held in the collections of many Japanese and international institutions, including the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the British Museum, and the Library of Congress.

'Kobayashi expresses a balance amongst life that goes beyond even ecosystems’ self-regulation. There is a seamless flow from land to sea to sky and back to land; we rise from the soil to the sea’s edge at the horizon, only to find we’re already back in the sky or back in the tree’s roots and the forest has begun to grow again.'
- Paige McCray, Collections Department

Read more from Keisei Kobayashi's Artist Feature here.