Kazuhide Yamazaki

A Plier /// Kazuhide Yamazaki Monotype Contemporary Pop Art Tools Yellow Print

1981

Kazuhide Yamazaki (1951-2023) was a Japanese-American artist born July 26th, 1951 in Tokyo, Japan. He attended the Tokyo Photo College between 1970-1971 and majored in photography. He attended the Tokyo Photo School between 1974-1975 and majored in photography and silkscreen. In 1976, he joined Daidō Moriyama’s legendary photography school, Workshop, in Tokyo and participated in group shows at Image Shop Camp, one of the first independent photography-focused galleries in Japan.

Yamazaki permanently moved to the United States to attend the Academy of Art College, San Francisco, CA between 1976-1979 and majored in printmaking. During his time in San Francisco, he became the Head Teaching Assistant of the Printmaking Department at the Academy of Art College between 1978-1979 and also worked while attending art school as an etching printer at Vandervolt Fine Art between 1979-1980. In the early 1980's, he moved to New York, NY where he worked in painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and photography. He participated and was exhibited in many group and one-man shows including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, MattinglyBaker Gallery, R & B Gallery, and Patricia Heesy Contemporary Art. He became represented by the newly formed art publisher and distributor, PermaPress, making many monotypes and also creating his first lithograph edition with Solo Press Inc. in New York.

Yamazaki was commissioned for numerous projects by various organizations including Contemporary Records Inc., Rumors Magazine, Paramount Pictures,and most notably The Rolling Stones. He designed the stage sets for stadium concerts, transparencies for indoor stage sets, tour poster, T-shirt designs, backstage pass designs, and record cover for the tour album for the Rolling Stones' 1981-1982 American and European tours.

In the early 1990’s, he co-founded the E.S. Vandam Gallery, which put on numerous solo and group shows devoted to a wide range of working artists. Yamazaki's work has been placed into a number of permanent collections including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the J.P. Morgan Chase Art Collection. Yamazaki died in New York on October 14th, 2023.

(Biography provided by Graves International Art)