Sarah and The Octopus

One of my favorite artists is Masami Teraoka. He grew up in Japan, went to art school in L.A. and now lives in Hawaii. His early work in watercolors and prints mimics the style of ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock prints) and is influenced by Pop Art. He often introduces something contemporary into the old-style print, like an ice cream cone, condoms, a cell phone or a camera. The work is satirical, sensual, and amusing.

His later work is darker both in subject matter and in style. He borrows late Gothic and Renaissance traditions from the West to comment on ecological disasters, AIDS and sexual hypocrisy in the Roman Catholic church. I love his cross-cultural borrowings, but the earlier work is easier to digest. The later work takes on the apocalyptic tone of Hieronymous Bosch, which seems appropriate to what's going on in Japan at the moment.

Above is a quite erotic and probably pornographic example of his earlier work called "Sarah and The Octopus." It's one of my favorite pieces. Consider this poem by Ted Hughes:

Mermaid


Call her a fish,
Call her a girl,
Call her the pearl


Of an oyster fresh
On its pearly dish


That the whole sea sips
With gurgly slurps
And sloppy lips.