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Masami Teraoka, groundbreaking Japanese artist flips traditions
Off-Ramp with John Rabe Hero Image
(
Dan Carino
)
Sep 20, 2012
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Masami Teraoka, groundbreaking Japanese artist flips traditions
Why is that samurai eating a hamburger? Why is the Cardinal eating squid ink pasta? Because they're in the highly symbolic work of Masami Teraoka.
Artist Masami Teraoka explains his AIDS Series painting at Samuel Freeman Gallery as Sam Freeman looks on. 9/11/12.
Artist Masami Teraoka explains his AIDS Series painting at Samuel Freeman Gallery as Sam Freeman looks on. 9/11/12.
(
John Rabe
)

Why is that samurai eating a hamburger? Why is the Cardinal eating squid ink pasta? Because they're in the highly symbolic work of Masami Teraoka.

This is a special Off-Ramp Extra segment recorded on the road at the new Samuel Freeman gallery in Culver City, featuring my entire interview with iconic Japanese artist Masami Teraoka, with a live and active audience.

Teraoka made his name inserting modern items into paintings that otherwise looked like traditional Japanese wood block prints -- cell phones, hamburgers, etc. -- as a way of commenting on how American culture infiltrated Japanese culture.

Later, he dug into the AIDS crisis with poignant and pointed works.

And lately, he's been addressing the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. Those paintings are rather graphic, so you'll have to check the link below, or go see them through October 13th at the gallery.

Masami is a rare artist who loves talking about every nuance of his work, and is also much funnier than most artists, as you'll hear in our unedited interview.