Casey Kawaguchi Mural

Casey Kawaguchi's family in Utah represent another side of Japanese in America - his grandfather owned a farm and was allowed to stay to manage the farm - created jobs for rural JA’s vs. Incarceration.

Casey Kawaguchi is a Japanese|American street artist whose large scale artworks are featured in public spaces throughout and beyond the Denver Metro Area [link to Courtney’s map of Casey’s mural locations]. Recently named one of Denver’s best known muralists byDenver Arts & Venues, it is literally impossible to travel around RiNo without noticing Casey’s work. There’s even a KAWAGUCHI table at Park Burger’s RiNo location!

Casey’s aesthetic is both unique and immediately recognizable with its bold black, red and white color palette and the permeating imagery of an iconic face. Influenced by his Japanese heritage and by the strong women in his family—particularly his grandmother—the nameless character featured in most of his works is an ever-constant, yet evolving depiction of a Japanese samurai warrior woman who often appears alongside other Japanese aesthetic symbols and imagery.

Casey recently completed a live-painting session at the McNichols Civic Center gallery during Denver’s MLB All-Stars festivities in July 2021. His piece “Tets,” (inspired by a 1940s photo of Tets Furukawa [link to Tets Furukawa?] playing baseball in the Japanese American Incarceration Center at Gila River, Arizona [link to JAMP and/or Densho info on Gila River]). Casey painted the piece for his dad, brother and great-grandfather, Chohachi “Gi-Gi” Fujita. “The love of baseball has been passed down through generation and I’m grateful to have this opportunity to pay homage to Japanese American Baseball Casey explained.