I can’t remember when was the last time erotic art has intrigued and amused me the way Masami Teraoka’s renaissance inspired collection did. Actually I do. It was Jeff Koons series of photographies with Ilona Staler, at the end of the 80’s (Although there are a lot of voices that claim Koons did the series because, allegedly, he could not get laid, mainly because of his good personality, and that he used Ilona’s image for his own use ) And since we’re talking about the 70’s and 80’s, I have to also mention Eric Stanton, with his fantastic series of female dominance comics and H.R. Giger, who is widely considered a horror/macabre artist, but whose art I find extremely erotic.
Teraoka was born in 1936 in the town of Onimichi and moved to the United States in 1961. His first paintings were Ukiyo-e derived (Ukiyo-e “pictures of the floating world” – a genre of Japanese woodblock prints). With his move to the United States the inevitable clash between the eastern and western culture emerged, both in his style and themes. His most famous series in the 70’s are McDonald’s Hamburgers Invading Japan and 31 Flavors Invading Japan.

Gradually, his art work became more dark, more fantastic and visceral, as he shifted his focus towards the subject of AIDS and the abuses in the Catholic Church. The series about the Catholic Church is, by far, my favourite.
When I first saw The Cloisters Confessions and The Last Super/The Inversion of the Sacred, I tagged them mentally : #renaissance  #Bosch, #porn, #Grunewald, #strippers, #latex, #fetish, #Comics, #bondage, #Religion, #Caravaggio, #Humour #Orgy and, for some reason, #Greenaway’s “The Cook, the Thief his Wife and her Lover”.

Teraoka began the work for these series in the late 90’s and they are aesthetically very different from his early works. The “Ukiyo” is still there but this time it’s positive and dreamy attributes (… Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating, floating – Asai Ryoi) are translated into a realm of orgiastic hell, with voluptuous naked or semi-naked women and ghoulish, green faced members of the catholic church, surrounded by marine creatures, dumbbells and snakes.

His works are like a puzzle, each time you look you discover some new details.  The contradictions between the sex abuse scandals, coverups and the sacre values preached by the Catholic Church are fuelling Teraoka, whose anger is exploding on the canvas.

His early technique is still visible in the way he depicts some of the women’s faces (most of them are western looking but every now and then a traditional Japanese face appears) and in the wavy lines of the robes, hills and women’s hair (Waves are very popular in Japanese traditional painting. They symbolize challenges)
These two series are Teraoka’s “visual reference to the grotesqueries committed in the name of ‘faith’, where decrepit and celibate men howled impotently about abortion, and child abuse was used to sublimate the priestly fear of women.” – samuelfreeman.com

Although Renaissance is the main influence for this collection, Japanese traditional elements are still very present.  Octopuses and giant squids take part in this visceral orgy, embracing women and clerics alike, and sometimes even the Pope’s Tiara or the Pope himself are squid like looking. Yurei (an entity/ghost that is bent on revenge, very popular in Japanese culture) figures, with their messy unkempt hair, are menacingly observing the scenes or actively taking part in them. In “The Cloisters/Holy Sea Pregnancy Test”, the furious Yurei figure located in the left top corner is almost as green as the cadaver looking clerics. For Teraoka, they are the Yurei’s of the Western World. Dead spirits.

Teraoka is not a subtle artist. He is “in your face”, aggressive and passionate, almost furious. Maybe my opening paragraph where I’m describing his arta as “erotic” is a bit confusing. That’s because, although (in his own words), “Social cultural issue in current and historical context is the core of my work”, I find The Cloisters Confessions and The Last Super/The Inversion of the Sacred to be very erotic and amusing.

Exhibitions
Upcoming solo & group shows:
Hey Art Show in Paris, France, January – June, 2013.
Masami Teraoka at Honolulu Museum of Arts, 2013 (date unconfirmed). 900 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI
Masami Teraoka at Koa Art Gallery/Kapiolani Community College, 2013. 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI

Cristian Balint is an actor who worked with Francis Ford Coppola, Cristi Puiu, Radu Muntean and Radu Afrim, among others. He is also a writer, photographer and decent poker player. Currently living in New York and Bucharest.