Sadao Hasegawa, 1991-1999

A r t

S k o o l
A r t  i s  n o t  a  t h i n g ,  i t  i s  a  w a y .

Japanese graphic artist Sadao Hasegawa was born in the Tokai area of Japan in 1955, and after taking up drawing in his twenties, his first exhibition Sadao Hasegawa's Alchemism-Meditation for 1973 debuted in Tokyo.

He combined depictions of the male physique, sex (often extreme, such as bondage and S&M), elaborate fantastic settings and Japanese, Indian, South-East Asian and African mythology, resulting in an intensely concentrated representation of stylised eroticism.

Whilst Hasegawa's work generated interest overseas, with contributions to magazines in the US and Europe, in Japan, his work has been largely overlooked. Sadao Hasegawa: Paintings and Drawings (Gay Men's Press, 1990), and Paradise Vision (Kochi Studio, 1996) have so far been the only collections of the artist's work.

Hasegawa refused to exhibit overseas, apparently not wanting to distribute his works abroad. He committed suicide on 20th November 1999 in Bangkok, Thailand, leaving only a small stone on which he had painted a portrait of Japanese author and poet Yukio Mishima, who had taken his own life one year earlier.

In the third of a three part series (you can find Part 1 [1978-82] here, and Part 2 [1982-91] here), KAOS takes a look at Hasegawa's early work.

Sadao Hasegawa, 1982-1991

Art

Skool
Art is not a thing, it is a way.

Japanese graphic artist Sadao Hasegawa was born in the Tokai area of Japan in 1955, and after taking up drawing in his twenties, his first exhibition Sadao Hasegawa's Alchemism-Meditation for 1973 debuted in Tokyo.

He combined depictions of the male physique, sex (often extreme, such as bondage and S&M), elaborate fantastic settings and Japanese, Indian, South-East Asian and African mythology, resulting in an intensely concentrated representation of stylised eroticism.

Whilst Hasegawa's work generated interest overseas, with contributions to magazines in the US and Europe, in Japan, his work has been largely overlooked. Sadao Hasegawa: Paintings and Drawings (Gay Men's Press, 1990), and Paradise Vision (Kochi Studio, 1996) have so far been the only collections of the artist's work.

Hasegawa refused to exhibit overseas, apparently not wanting to distribute his works abroad. He committed suicide on 20th November 1999 in Bangkok, Thailand, leaving only a small stone on which he had painted a portrait of Japanese author and poet Yukio Mishima, who had taken his own life one year earlier.

In the second of a three part series (1978-82 is here), KAOS takes a look at Hasegawa's early work.

Sadao Hasegawa, 1978-82

Art

Skool

Japanese graphic artist Sadao Hasegawa was born in the Tokai area of Japan in 1955, and after taking up drawing in his twenties, his first exhibition Sadao Hasegawa's Alchemism-Meditation for 1973 debuted in Tokyo.

He combined depictions of the male physique, sex (often extreme, such as bondage and S&M), elaborate fantastic settings and Japanese, Indian, South-East Asian and African mythology, resulting in an intensely concentrated representation of stylised eroticism.

Whilst Hasegawa's work generated interest overseas, with contributions to magazines in the US and Europe, in Japan, his work has been largely overlooked. Sadao Hasegawa: Paintings and Drawings (Gay Men's Press, 1990), and Paradise Vision (Kochi Studio, 1996) have so far been the only collections of the artist's work.

Hasegawa refused to exhibit overseas, apparently not wanting to distribute his works abroad. He committed suicide on 20th November 1999 in Bangkok, Thailand, leaving only a small stone on which he had painted a portrait of Japanese author and poet Yukio Mishima, who had taken his own life one year earlier.

In the first of a three part series, we take a look at Hasegawa's early work.

Toucan (1978), thought to be Hasegawa's first publicly available work.