Masami Teraoka
Masami Teraoka, born in 1936, is a contemporary Japanese artist. He studied Aesthetics in Kobe, Japan and then moved to the United States in 1961. He received his B.F.A and M.F.A. in Los Angeles. Today, he has had solo shows and public collections all over the world.
His early works are mostly water-colour painting that reflect the clash of two cultures, East and West. Later, he produced narrative work about social and political issues, including gay marriage, international tourism and terrorism, cloning, internet culture and so on, while his recent large-scale paintings are inspired by Renaissance paintings. He uses them to express his opinions on the modern world.
雅美寺冈
当代日本艺术家雅美寺冈生于1936年，早年在日本神户学习艺术，1961年移居美国，在洛杉矶攻下艺术学士与艺术硕士学位。如今，他已在世界各地举行过独立画展和公众展览。其早期作品多数是反映东西方文化碰撞的水彩画。之后他转而创作反映社会与政治事件的叙事性作品，主题包括同性恋婚姻、国际旅游业、恐怖主义、克隆技术互联网文化等。他近期创作的大规模绘画则是从文艺复兴时期的作品中汲取灵感。雅美寺冈通过它们表达自己对现代社会的想法。
31 Flavours Invading Japan/Today’s Special (Ready to Lick)
《31种味道入侵日本之今日特色（准备舔一口）》
1975 35.89 cm HIGH x 53.97 cm WIDE Style: 20th Century
Today’s Special, from his series 31 Flavours Invading Japan, is one of his early work that were done after his arrival in the United States. It has two important features:
《今日特色》这幅作品选自雅美寺冈《31种味道入侵日本》系列，是创作者迁居美国之后创作的早期作品之一。它体现了这一系列作品共有的两个显著特点：
1. It mimicks the flat, bold qualities of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. This is a water-colour painting with these elegant flow of strokes and traditional ninon colour and patterns, as well as the calligraphy.
第一，它重现了浮世绘木刻版画扁平如一、鲜明大胆的质感。作为水彩画，线条优雅流畅，并采用日本传统色与花纹，兼有书法写就的题文。
2. Unlike conventional ukiyo-e prints, Masami chose unexpected modern products as subjects, such as ice-creams or hamburgers, or even bikinis.
第二，与传统浮世绘不同，雅美寺冈出人意料地选取现代产品作为中心对象，例如雪糕和汉堡，甚至还有比基尼。
These two points lead us to the theme - the sharp contrast behind the seemingly harmonious image - the collision between Japanese tradition and American consumerism.
这两点向我们揭示了作品的主题——看似和谐的画面中隐含的强烈对比——日本传统文化与美国消费主义的冲突。
In noting Teraoka's undercurrent of lusty imagery, Asian art expert Howard A. Link refers to his "snake-like tongues devouring ice cream cones." His works are said to "create absurdist parodies of consumerism, pollution and greed", “a rich, sensual and humorous art practice that blended reality with fantasy, humour with commentary and history with the present.”
在谈论雅美寺冈鲜明意象背后的深意时，亚洲艺术学家Howard A. Link特别提起他画中“伸向雪糕甜筒的蛇一样的舌头”。他的作品被称作“对消费主义、污染和贪婪进行荒诞夸张的模仿”，“现实与想像交织、幽默与评论共存、历史与今日相融的丰满、直观、诙谐的艺术品”。
By combining Japanese ukiyo-e with symbols informed by Western culture, Masami Teraoka successfully expressed his concern about the global homogenisation and showed cultural and social sensitivity and expressiveness of his artwork.
通过日本浮世绘与西方文化标志的巧妙糅合，雅美寺冈表达出自己对全球一体化的思虑，也展现了自己对文化、社会问题的敏锐觉察力和作品的强大表现力。
（节选自Communicating in English课个人演讲，主题是介绍艺术作品）
