Masami Teraoka
Tweet
Follow the artist with our email alert
Japan ( 1936 ) - Artworks Wikipedia® - Masami Teraoka
Floating World Gallery Ltd. / Mar 19, 2011
€1,415.43 - €2,123.14
€1,613.56
Find artworks, auction results, sale prices and pictures of Masami Teraoka at auctions worldwide.
Go to the complete price list of works
Artworks in Arcadja
60
Some works of Masami Teraoka
Extracted between 60 works in the catalog of Arcadja
Masami Teraoka - New Views Of Mt. Fuji Sinking Pleasure Boat
Original 1977
Auction:
Christie's -
Nov 24, 2012- Hong Kong
Lot number:
45
Other WORKS AT AUCTIONDescription:
MASAMI TERAOKA
(American/Japanese, B. 1936)
New Views of Mt. Fuji Sinking Pleasure Boat
watercolour on paper
27.9 x 139.7 cm. (11 x 55 in.)
Painted in 1976-1977
Private Collection, USA
California, USA, Newport Harbor Art Museum (now Orange County Museum of Art), Masami Teraoka, 27 September-30 November 1980.
Hawaii, USA, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Masami Teraoka, 11 July-24 August 1980.
Masami Teraoka was born in Japan in 1936 into a family that owned a kimono shop, which influenced his aesthetic appreciation for traditional Japanese prints at an early age. He moved to the United States in 1961 to pursue further education at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles and graduated in 1968. Influenced by the America Pop Art during his education, Teraoka found himself attracted to the movement's mass-culture-derived cliches, and began to question the fast consumerist cultural effects and influences on the rapid changes of Japan. In the early 1970s he began combining elements of traditional Japanese woodblock prints, ukiyo-e, with pop art, by using watercolour on paper to appropriate the ukiyo-e style with images of popular consumer goods into the traditional Japanese aesthetic. By the late 1970's the ukiyo-e style with images of popular consumer goods into the traditional Japanese aesthetic. By the late 1970s the ukiyo-e graphic became his signature style, a visual platform to critique the cultural clashes of the East and West, commentating on the many sociopolitical issues in the late 20th Century, and such cultural commentary has become the constant subject in his work.
New Views of Mt. Fuji Sinking Pleasure Boat (Lot 45) painted between 1976 and 1977, depicts the traditional Japanese ukiyo aesthetic: a flat graphic style delineated by calligraphic brushstrokes and layers of delicate detailed patterned colours, with subject matters of rural Japan or teahouse, of mythical tales, or portrait of the actors and geisha, courtesans, and Samurais with female beauties. ukiyo began in the 17th Century Japan during the beginning of the Edo period of intense censorship and didactic tinkering by the government, and a period where Chinese philosophy of Confucianism is deeply rooted in everyday life, where being modest, prudent and extreme self-disciplined is highly valued in society. Ukiyo, meaning the floating world, the ever-changing world had become a powerful and pervasive perception of the world, a world of frivolous, narcissistic, stylish, and ephemeral pleasure seeking. As for ukiyo-e, meaning the pictures of the floating world, this colour woodblock print became the visualizing tool to portray this world of pleasure seeking, with subject matters associating with sensuality and theatricality that allow its audience to escape from the oppressed society. Also because the prints can be mass produced, this has become a popular painting substitute amongst the people with different ranking in society at that time, with mainly its audience focused by men.
In New Views of Mt. Fuji Sinking Pleasure Boat the roaring wave depicted like the craws of lion charges forward to demolish the chaotic foreground boat that is half sunk about to be flipped over with its passengers. The passengers on the boat are no ordinary modern day tourists, subversively, it is the Edo period kabuki (dance-drama) actors, samurai, farmer, geiko (geisha) and courtesan, each dressed in their accustomed attires, posed as if they were on the stage, each have their own act to perform yet, disregarding the disaster ahead of them. In the far left, the drunken farmer reclines backwards still holding onto his fan as he passes out to a deep dream, then another farmer leaning forwards trying to pour sake for that one last drink before the boat sinks. In the middle, an actor dressed in kabuki attire shields his face with a half-open fan, leaping one foot upwards appearing frightened as the surging wave floods through his feet. In lower middle, the geiko with her shamisen (three-stringed instrument) at her lap, instead of playing the instrument, she covers her mouth with a cloth, nonchalant at the astounded scene ahead of her. In upper middle, a man stands on a wooden bucket in an obscene composure with his abacus, meanwhile the geiko below him tittering with her mouth covered by her hand, and with another hand holding onto the camera shutter string, appearing to clandestinely capture the man's ludicrous behaviour. In the lower right, a samurai appears to be in an act of fornication with a courtesan yet, with his right hand reaching out to grasp on his golf club as it sinks into the sea. The pleasure boat is filled with all sorts of entertainment amenity from the past to present, the shamisen , samurai swords, fans, sake, and beautiful array of sushi, miso soup bowl, bento box, wooden bucket, abacus, camera, tripod and golf club. However, a few things are missing to make it a sailable boat. It seems obscene to have a boat to go out into the open sea without any reliable equipment, this heightened the cynical narration of this painting, Teraoka suggests a mockery at the Japanese consumerist culture and the tourism industry, commenting on the rise of the savvy automated camera available to the masses, and the booming tourism industry during the flourish of the Japanese in the 1970s.
The graphic source of Teraoka stems from the great masters of Ukiyo-e print produced in the 18th and 19th Century Japan during the Meiji period, a time characterised by new influences as Japan opened up to the West. Notable ukiyo-e artists were Kitagawa Utamaro best known for his portraiture of beautiful women, Katsushika Hokusai famous for his The Great Wave of Kanagawa, Toshusai Sharaku best known for his portraiture of kabuki actor, Utagawa Hiroshige best known for his landscape, and Utagawa the most prolific and most popular artist during Meiji period. Out of these masters of ukiyo-e, Kunisada is the one that influenced Teraoka the most on aesthetic execution and methods of narration. Much of Teraoka's paintings carry that peculiar decadent aesthetic in Kunisada's prints, and we see the explicit sensual and theatrical sexualised imagery, the detailed and complex composition of Teraoka's subject matter that fills the painting, as well as the cursive scripture of Kunisada's style that often appears along his portraitures. The facial features of male and female in this painting resonate Utagawa Kunisada's androgynous portraiture of his female heroine (Fig. 1). There is also a peculiar mirror graphic element of Kunisada's works (Fig. 2) that we can find in New Views of Mt. Fuji Sinking Pleasure Boat, on the upper left corner, the mirror in Teraoka's painting represents the thoughts reflected in a mirror. Paradoxically, amidst the chaos in the sea, the mirror image reflected here is a goose on dry land, a rather surreal combination comparing to the rest of the painting. This image of representation or self-reflection suggests the desire of the passengers to land on dry land, or more explicitly, it could suggest the artist's concerns on the disruption of wildlife inhabitants caused by the pollution from the rise of the tourism industry in Japan.
Moreover, the roaring wave depicted like the claws of lions charging forward to demolish the foreground boat, echoes the famous Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave of Kanagawa (Fig. 3). Teraoka's waves illustrated like a mounting wave that is as high as the painting's height. In a panoramic view it could easily be mistaken for a range of snowy mountains from afar. This panoramic view resonates the horizontal scroll or multiple screen panels in Japanese traditional painting. There are also many ukiyo-e prints produced in diptychs or triptychs that frame the work in different parts to direct the viewer's gaze from one panel to the other. In this painting Teraoka's panorama scroll-like vision directs the viewer's gaze from left to right. Therefore the composition here is visually composed in a linear manner with the surging wave and the figures to direct the viewer's gaze from left to right. Moreover, this vibrant illustration of the surging wave expresses the force of nature that mankind cannot defy, that anything could be washed away in a flick of time, whatever that's been washed away could become a potential pollution to sabotage the oceanic life. In Japan, ocean and water have very important symbolic meaning, despite the destructive forces of nature the ocean could also create life and bring balance to life. As such, the ocean is sacred to Japanese culture and it is an important source to provide sustenance to their daily lives.
By appropriating the ukiyo-e style with images of popular consumer goods such as the camera and golf club into traditional Japanese aesthetic, Teraoka plays on the pop-psychological parody of post-war consumerist culture in Japan, the critique on the nouveaux riches Japanese tourists and on how certain consumer goods could also become a national symbol for Japanese tourists, such as the stereotypical accessories of cameras and golf clubs. Such parody and critique resonate to Richard Hamilton's Just What It Is That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? (Fig. 4), a piece that raises viewer's awareness on the fast consumerist culture's effect and influence on the rapidly changing contemporary society. Teraoka's Pop ukiyo-e style is not only visually mesmerising through its frank and flamboyant sexual expression that cleverly encodes social and political commentary, but also is fundamentally in defiance against cultural orthodoxy, social conformity, and political oppression.
Masami Teraoka - Urameshiya Sushi Ghost
Original 1980
Auction:
Bonhams -
Oct 3, 2012- Los Angeles
Lot number:
119
Other WORKS AT AUCTIONDescription:
Property from another owner
Masami Teraoka (born 1936)
Urameshiya Sushi Ghost, 1980
signed and dated 'Masami Teraoka 1980' (lower right) and titled (lower left)
watercolor and pencil on paper
17 3/4 x 12in (45.1 x 30.5cm)
Provenance:
Space Gallery, Los Angeles
Venice Art Walk 1987, Venice
Masami Teraoka - Catfish Envy, From The Hawaii Snorkel Series
Original 1993
Other WORKS AT AUCTIONDescription:
Masami Teraoka (Japanese, born 1936)
Catfish Envy, from The Hawaii Snorkel Series
, 1993
Woodcut and etching in colors with handcoloring on natural Fuji handmade paper, signed in pencil, dated and numbered 5/30 (there were also 8 artist's proofs), with the blindstamp of the publisher/printer, Tyler Graphics, Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York, the full sheet, colors fresh, in apparently good condition, framed (not examined out of frame).
sheet 26 3/4 x 38 1/2in
Masami Teraoka - 31 Flavors Invading Japan/ Today's Special
Original 1981
Other WORKS AT AUCTIONDescription:
Lot #
173
Artist
Teraoka, Masami, b. 1936
Title
31 Flavors Invading Japan/ Today's Special
Date
1981
Medium
woodblock
Dimensions
11 1/8 x 16 1/2 inches
Comments
Signed and dated in pencil on reverse
Estimate
$2,000.00 - $3,000.00
Starting Bid
$1,000.00
Masami Teraoka - Semana Santa/venus' Security Check
Original 2004
Auction:
Christie's -
Nov 27, 2010- Hong Kong
Lot number:
1035
Other WORKS AT AUCTIONDescription:
MASAMI TERAOKA
(B. 1936)
Semana Santa/Venus' Security Check
inscribed in Japanese (on the exterior)
translation of artist inscription:
Top external panels: "After I did the research on Tuscany andToledo (What I meant is we went to see Spanish Inquisition's headquarter in Toledo.), (I felt) it's time for Roman Catholic Churchto investigate (Catholic) priests' sexual abuse issue."
Bottom external panels: "Semana Santa Venus Security Check,completion January 8, 2004. London as its backdrop, I painted thevision as it had evolved."
oil on panel in gold leaf frame
top panel opened: 112 x 243.7 x 7 cm. (44 1/8 x 96 x 2 3/4in.)
bottom panel opened: 190.3 x 243.7 x 7 cm. (74 7/8 x 96 x 2 3/4in.)
overall size opened: 302.3 x 243.7 x 7 cm. (119 x 96 x 2 3/4in.)
Painted in 2004
Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Private Collection, USA
Chronicle Books, Ascending Chaos, The Art of Masami Teraoka1966-2006, San Francisco, USA, 2006 (illustrated, p. 152).
Samuel Freeman, Masami Teraoka Cloisters' Confessions, exh. cat.,Santa Monica, USA, 2008 (illustrated, p. 19).
Santa Monica, USA, Samuel Freeman, (formerly Patricia FaureGallery), Masami Teraoka Cloisters' Confessions, 19 April-25 May2008.
Masami Teraoka's artwork is visually and intellectuallyprovocative masterpieces filled with a variety of culturalinspirations and current affairs. As a resident of Hawaii and withhis upbringing in Japan, Teraoka incorporates inspirations from allaspects of the world, opening a dialogue between himself, currentaffairs and viewers in a provocative and exciting way. This season,we are delighted to offer two works, each painted 30 years apart,each serves as extraordinary example of Teraoka's malleable stylebut consistency in his interest of narratives and the interplaybetween the long-established artistic practices of woodblock printsand rich watercolour washes as seen in the 1975 New Views of Mt.Fuji/La Brea Tarpits and Rental Boat (Lot 1036); and Western oilpaints and Italian Renaissance inspired paneled altarpieces inSemana Santa/Venus' Security Check (Lot 1035). Both works areinvigorating, truly taking after Teraoka's admiration for ukiyo-e,an art form of 19th Century Japan not considered high art then butrather poster-like, richly animated, colourful and vibrant.
New Views of Mt. Fuji/La Brea Tarpits and Rental Boat exhibited atthe artist's solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum in 1979 is aprime example of Teraoka's ingenious melding of personal narration,social commentary and parody. Unfolding before us like a long handscroll, New Views of Mt. Fuji/La Brea Tarpits and Rental Boat is aplayful, creative interpretation of traditional woodblock printsukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") (Fig.1). Spanning acrossour vision, the painting, like a real landscape, has multiplepoints of perspective, each fighting for our attention. Here,Teraoka adapts traditional imagery of picturesque Japanese gardens,its exquisite trees and stylized karesansui (sand) gardens with themore Western pastime of rowing boats in parks into an articulate,cohesive narrative complete with exemplary technical execution ofdefinitive lines detailing each facet of the scene from the box ofsashimi, kimono patterns to the knobs of the tripod. Within thethin lines Teraoka has filled rich, even colours, acutelycontrasting the pale pink sky, green trees and oddly dark 'pond'.This deep matte black pond references the pits of tar at La BreaTarpits in Hancock Park, Los Angeles, an archaeological site whereexcavation has revealed many extinct species including wellpreserved mammoth skeleton which is depicted climbing out alive andrambling through the park throughout Teraoka's painting. The choiceto depict such a historic site of constant discovery is suggestiveof Teraoka's migration to the United States, then still a foreigncountry promising of invigorating experiences and artisticinvestigation. Ironically, the contents of the excavationthemselves purchased by Japanese businessmen, moved in part toJapan and featured in a Zen Garden and imposed on its sereneenvironment. This interweaving of the US and Japan; Tarpits and ZenGardens are further explored in New Views of Mount Fuji La BreaTarpits and Zen Garden (now housed in the Minneapolis Institute ofArts) and New Views of Mount Fuji/La Brea Tarpits and AmusementPark where the very strange combination has become yet anothervisitor's site and source of enjoyment.
We cannot however forget Teraoka's mischievous mockery of Japan,depicted in the notoriously technology reliant Japanese touristswho stare at the grand creature with amused and confusedexaggerated expressions underneath kabuki make up. Gesturing withtheir body at their bewilderment, the speech bubbles above themreveal their thoughts: "what is that thing?!" the geisha says tothe man, "it must be an American wild boar" answers thebespectacled samurai as he grabs his camera for a snap shot. Thecameras allude to the skyrocketing modernization of Japan duringtheir economic boom and the resulting plethora of technologicalinnovations, an idea seen in Teraoka's others works such as SamuraiBusinessman on the Way Home1 , featured on the cover of TimeMagazine in 1981 under the headlines "How Japan Does It: TheWorld's Toughest Competitor" (Fig.2). The incorporation of theantiquated samurai draped in modern accessories presents Teraoka'sobserved dichotomy between innovation and history, business andart, and perhaps most importantly, whether Japan can shake itsconservative heritage to contemporize itself and match thetechnology industry capital it has become.
In the 2004 Semana Santa/Venus'Security Check , such social,political and cultural differences are sharply illustrated, in avastly different style from his earlier watercolours. Thisprogression towards the oil medium coincided with Teraoka's longresidence in the United States that exceeded his years in Japan,sparking a deliberate exploration for inspiration in artisticmovements of the Western hemisphere. Visually revealed not only inits altarpiece format, the rich surface texture of oil paint and inthe rendition of controversial subject matter saturated with oftensexual imagery, Teraoka's later works are reminiscent of HieronymusBosch's humorous yet fantastical sexual interpretation of moral andreligious scenes (Fig. 3). On the outside, bright red Japanesescripture adorns the panels before revealing the stimulating scenewithin. The almost chaotic arrangement of gothic, green tintedfigures layered over the rich cityscapes is visually overwhelming,revealing the complexity of the depicted vision of airport securityand subsequent allegations of racism in the main frames to HolyWeek (Semana Santa), its processions and robed attire whichinfluenced the analogous attire of the Ku Klux Klan.
This combined imagery reveals Teraoka's accurate and astute link ofthese two religious fanaticisms. Set over the river Thames, Big Benand the Tate Modern, London is depicted dark and ominous. Smallphone booths crowded with church members and nudes stand in thefields like small headstones, in waiting perhaps for theresurrection of Christ. In the center, Botticelli's Venus standsresolutely and frustrated at her involuntary indecency, draped inher regal velvet cape only to be found exposing her breast over herloosened corset, alluding to Janet Jackson's simple wardrobemalfunction in 2004 which sparked debate over the moral code ofcontemporary television. In the surrounding airport securityterminal, chaos ensues, as officers appear baffled and unsure oftheir assignment, even oblivious to the woman strapped with astring of explosives. Religious tolerance and controversy isfurther elaborated above as entangled men of church and womenengage in sexual acts, watched closely by the caped religiousfigures with batons in hand. Here the duality over righteousness isdivided between the top and bottom panels. On the bottom we findreferences to events leading to the intolerance of Muslimbelievers, and on the
top a group of 'Christian terrorists'. These hooded figures minglein the Spanish landscape, referencing Spain's more traditionalcelebrations of Holy Week. Teraoka theatrically critiques thesocial and political debate perhaps embedded in religious beliefsand prejudice by exaggerating the sexual gestures and surrealbleeding skin of the figures. As such, "Teraoka's lusty art is oneof social protest. It is an art of
ridicule, an art which exposes the follies, weaknesses and wrong ofsociety." (Howard A. Link, 'Masami Teraoka' in Masami Teraoka ,Whitney Museum, New York, USA, 1977, unpaged).
In both watercolour and oil works, Teraoka mimics the oftentheatrical, erotic yet humorous ukiyo-e to critique social,political and religious phenomenon. His unprecedented technicalrenditions is visible throughout his oeuvre, helping him craft thewondrous and intellectually probing images adorned with referencesto international headlining events. Teraoka's paintings areextraordinary in its ability to captivate worldwide spectators,tackling global and timeless social issues with lightheartednessand objectivity. His collection of works in private collectionsacross the world and featured in exhibitions at influentialinstitutions such as the Tate Modern, London, England; MetropolitanMuseum of Art, New York, USA; Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow,Scotland; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA; Fine Art Museum,San Francisco, USA and the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore alsocollect Teraoka's works, a testament to his profound aestheticimpact on the global art world.