Yasu Shibata was born in 1968 in Osaka, Japan. He received his B.F.A. from Kyoto Seika University, where he studied printmaking under Akira Kurosaki. Shibata has lived in the United States since 1991, working as a printer first at Tyler Graphics, and currently at Pace Editions. He also teaches relief printing at the Cooper Union.

In his own artwork, Shibata uses the ukiyo-e and reduction woodcut techniques together, layering simple shapes of pigment that radiate intense color. His prints are in the permanent collections of the New York Public Library, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Smith College Museum of Art.