BACK
TO
PSC / HIS 227
SPRING 2003
COURSE SCHEDULE
IN NON-WESTERN SOCIETIES
CONTEMPORARY MANIFESTATIONS
OF JAPANESE POPULAR CULTURE
To gain an appreciation of this contemporary Japanese artist's work, visit Masami Teraoka's Art Theater on the World Wide Web. Take a close look particularly at Teraoka early works on exhibit here (the more recent ones have taken a turn towards a dark, forboding color palate and focus on subject matter some will find offensive, even pornographic -- be prepared if you choose to venture into these other areas of the web site). Pay particular attention to the artist's essay on Hanauma Bay and to his woodblock print series on the AIDS crisis. You might want to read Carol Simmon's introductory article first.
The social and cultural dramas of today's society motivate me to create paintings. My earlier work focused on my life experiences in America and Japan. More recently I have been inspired to create paintings based on worldwide issues such as religion, sexuality, nudity, erotica, media, religion, privacy, confession, politics, gender, AIDS, race, violence, war, and environmental issues, among other things. My paintings are sometimes humorous or lighthearted, and other times very intense. The saving grace is aesthetic concern--beauty transcends the issues.
- MASAMI TERAOKA
For comparative purposes, you might choose to check out other examples of tranditional Japanese woodblock prints as well; to do so, begin at the excellent woodblock print web site maintained by Hans Olaf Johansen in Sweden.
Once you have completed your survey, think a bit about your observations. Which elements in Teraoka's work represent aspects of the modernization process at work? Which others reflect a more traditional orientation? In what ways do you see the influence of the cultural "soft power" and authority generated by past traditions present in Teraoka's art ? In what ways does Teraoka use this traditional power and authority to convey his own very contemporary artist intentions?
What is the artist attempting to say in these highly charged works? How effectively do they communicate their intended message to a Japanese audience? to a non-Japanese audience? Do you feel Teraoka is able, in fact, to maintain his intended aesthetic focus -- the notion that "beauty transcends the issues" -- or do the messages contained in these prints "get in the way" and obscure his artistic intent?