Shiro Ikegawa was born on July 15, 1933 in Tokyo. He studied art in Japan and moved to Los Angeles in 1956 to study Abstract Expressionism. He attended Otis Art Institute, earning an M.F.A. in 1961. Ikegawa worked primarily in printmaking but was also an accomplished painter, working in large-format acrylics and often employing collage.

Ikegawa was represented by the prestigious Martha Jackson Gallery in New York. He had prints commissioned by James B. Lancer Corp.; Martha Jackson; two editions for the L.A. County Museum Graphic Arts Council; Nomura Display in Tokyo; the Los Angeles Times and many others. His work has been included in dozens of exhibitions throughout the country including the Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, LA County Museum of Art, Crocker Art Museum and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

He was an assistant professor of art at Pasadena City College (1961-67) and Cal State University, L.A. (’67-’76) and taught at Otis Art Institute, Chouinard Art School, Cal. State Univ., San Francisco, UC Berkeley, Vancouver School of Art and Parsons School of Design, among others. Ikegawa’s work won many awards including: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Printmaking in 1974 and Conceptual & Performance Art in 1981, and two Ford Foundation grants in 1977 & '80.

Shiro Ikegawa died in Los Angeles on October 11, 2009.