Roger Shimomura is a pioneering Asian American artist, printmaker, painter, professor, and cultural activist whose work has transformed contemporary art, pop art, political art, and identity-based art in the United States. His powerful paintings, lithographs, prints, performance art, and installations challenge racial stereotypes, Japanese American history, WWII internment camp narratives, and cultural assimilation.
Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1939, Shimomura’s personal history—especially his experience as a child in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II—deeply influenced his art. His bold and graphic style combines American pop culture, traditional Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, comic book aesthetics, and social activism to explore themes of immigration, xenophobia, racial discrimination, and Japanese American identity. His politically charged artworks challenge how Asian Americans, Japanese culture, and minority communities are perceived in the United States’ art history and contemporary art scene.
Roger Shimomura’s Signature Style: Pop Art, Ukiyo-e, and Satire
Shimomura is best known for his ability to blend East and West, merging Japanese ukiyo-e prints, traditional Asian motifs, American consumerism, and political commentary. His work features bright colors, graphic compositions, hard-edged figures, satirical imagery, and iconic symbols like Mickey Mouse, Superman, samurai, geishas, kabuki actors, and WWII propaganda.
His most famous series, American Infamy, is a visual critique of Japanese American internment camps, depicting barbed wire fences, military watchtowers, families in cramped barracks, and racist wartime propaganda. His use of comic book aesthetics, pop art elements, and historical references forces viewers to confront America’s history of racial prejudice, war-time paranoia, and systemic discrimination against Japanese Americans, immigrants, and minorities.
Roger Shimomura, Mike Sims, and the Lawrence Lithography Workshop
Shimomura’s impact on contemporary printmaking, fine art lithography, and collaborative print workshops is significant, thanks in part to his collaborations with master printer Mike Sims and the Lawrence Lithography Workshop in Kansas City, Missouri.
Founded in 1979 in Lawrence, Kansas, before relocating to Kansas City, the Lawrence Lithography Workshop became a vital center for fine art printmaking, limited-edition lithographs, collaborative artist-printer relationships, and experimental print techniques. Shimomura worked closely with Mike Sims, a highly respected master printer and lithography expert, to translate his dynamic imagery into hand-pulled stone lithographs, aluminum plate prints, and mixed-media editions.
Through the Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Shimomura was able to expand his artistic vision into limited-edition lithographic prints, ensuring that his politically charged, socially relevant, and visually striking work reached museums, collectors, galleries, and fine art print enthusiasts worldwide. His lithographs, created with Mike Sims, retain the same bold colors, cultural juxtapositions, and biting social commentary that define his paintings.
Many of Shimomura’s lithographs feature Japanese American internment camp imagery, Asian American identity themes, and critiques of racial stereotypes in Hollywood, advertising, propaganda, and Western media. His printmaking collaborations with the Lawrence Lithography Workshop helped revitalize interest in contemporary lithography, promote cross-cultural artistic exchange, and preserve the tradition of fine art printmaking in the United States.
Roger Shimomura’s Legacy in Contemporary Art, Printmaking, and Cultural Activism
Shimomura’s influence extends beyond his artwork—he is also a renowned professor, mentor, and educator who taught for over 35 years at the University of Kansas. His commitment to art education, political awareness, Asian American representation, and social justice in contemporary art has inspired generations of artists.
His work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the Library of Congress, and major university museums and private collections worldwide. His contributions to American pop art, activist art, printmaking, and Japanese American cultural history have earned him national recognition as one of the most important Asian American artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
By tackling themes of racial prejudice, immigrant struggles, historical memory, and cultural appropriation, Shimomura has cemented his place in contemporary American art, political art, and socially conscious printmaking. His collaborations with Mike Sims and the Lawrence Lithography Workshop played a vital role in preserving the tradition of fine art lithography while pushing the boundaries of print-based storytelling.
As the art world continues to grapple with issues of race, identity, and representation, Roger Shimomura’s work remains as relevant, powerful, and visually compelling as ever.Roger Shimomura, Asian American identity, Pop art, Lithography, Cultural activism, Stereotypes Japanese American internment, University of Kansas, American popular culture, Traditional Asian art, Racial imagery, Identity exploration, Social perception, Performance art, Cultural juxtaposition, Artistic provocation, Visual storytelling, Cultural heritage, Art exhibitions, American art scene