Paintings By Masami Teraoka

About this book

Integrating traditional imagery and subject matter with pop art Teraoka casts contemporary issuesfrom AIDS to computers environmental degradation and drive-by shootingsin historical guise. Humor and satire combine with a vibrant iconography drawn from Japanese and Western sourcescatfish trickster fox ghost snake ninja samurai geisha Adam and Eve punk rockers and television. Teraokas work moves from the indulgent pleasures of ukiyo or the "floating world" of ancient theater and pleasure houses to a chastened consciousness of death and evil with a majestic virtuosity unique in contemporary art.