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Lot Essay
In 1980, the same year he won a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Teraoka moved from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii. Originally intended as a nonworking trip, the artist quickly became more fascinated with his fellow beachgoers than in the Hawaiian marine life. Always a keen observer of cultural confluences and collisions, he began his Hawaii Snorkel Series and Hanauma Bay Series just one year later. The latter depicts scenes of its geographical namesake. Hanauma Bay was originally uninhabited due to a lack of fresh water in its vicinity, however became popular among beachgoers after the government cleared areas of reef to make room for swimming. By 1981, when this series was conceived, Hanauma Bay had become a major tourist attraction with busloads of up to 13,000 visitors descending upon the beach each day. Uneducated about the fragile ecosystem of the reef, visitors littered the shore with trash and disturbed and trampled the local marine life, as depicted in the artist's 1982 work Hanauma Bay Series/ Wikiwiki Tour.
Painted in 1992, New Wave Series/Christine at Hanauma Bay (Lot 456) represents a re-visitation of the Hanauma Bay and Hawaii Snorkel Series with less focus on the ecological impact of tourism, instead turning an eye toward cultural rifts between Western and Japanese tourists. In this work, the artist depicts Christine, a lithe blonde clad in a black string bikini, wading through the shallows with her snorkeling gear in tow. She flushes as she senses the intense stares of the two Japanese tourists who watch her from the beach. They each don the traditional splittoed footwear of samurai, while also carrying snorkeling gear of their own; however instead of observing the marine life, they unabashedly ogle their fellow beachgoer. The standing tourist is depicted as a traditional samurai, albeit clad only in a red string thong, while the punk hairstyle of his sitting compatriot indicates that he is from a younger generation. Beyond the writhing and crashing waves, lies the instantly recognizable profile of Hanauma Bay, placing this seaside narrative into a true geographical context. On his inspiration for this series, the artist said:
"The punk-haired Japanese samurai represents a younger generation that wants to be Westernized. On the surface they can copy punk hairstyles—but when I really get into their minds, they are totally Japanese, and I often wonder how much they could think in a Western style. Western women and American people in general are so casual; nothing fazes us. When Japanese tourists come to town [Honolulu] and see how freely we can express ourselves, they're stunned. That is what's happening in the snorkel series, when samurai and geisha come across American women in their bikinis and thongs."
Teraoka's ongoing fascination with interactions between beachgoers with one another draws a parallel with the work of American Neo-Expressionist painter Eric Fischl. (Fig. 25) However, while Fischl was primarily interested in exploring corporeal matters, Teraoka seeks to define the intangible currents of different cultures in succinct, humorous, and insightful vignettes.
Painted in 1992, New Wave Series/Christine at Hanauma Bay (Lot 456) represents a re-visitation of the Hanauma Bay and Hawaii Snorkel Series with less focus on the ecological impact of tourism, instead turning an eye toward cultural rifts between Western and Japanese tourists. In this work, the artist depicts Christine, a lithe blonde clad in a black string bikini, wading through the shallows with her snorkeling gear in tow. She flushes as she senses the intense stares of the two Japanese tourists who watch her from the beach. They each don the traditional splittoed footwear of samurai, while also carrying snorkeling gear of their own; however instead of observing the marine life, they unabashedly ogle their fellow beachgoer. The standing tourist is depicted as a traditional samurai, albeit clad only in a red string thong, while the punk hairstyle of his sitting compatriot indicates that he is from a younger generation. Beyond the writhing and crashing waves, lies the instantly recognizable profile of Hanauma Bay, placing this seaside narrative into a true geographical context. On his inspiration for this series, the artist said:
"The punk-haired Japanese samurai represents a younger generation that wants to be Westernized. On the surface they can copy punk hairstyles—but when I really get into their minds, they are totally Japanese, and I often wonder how much they could think in a Western style. Western women and American people in general are so casual; nothing fazes us. When Japanese tourists come to town [Honolulu] and see how freely we can express ourselves, they're stunned. That is what's happening in the snorkel series, when samurai and geisha come across American women in their bikinis and thongs."
Teraoka's ongoing fascination with interactions between beachgoers with one another draws a parallel with the work of American Neo-Expressionist painter Eric Fischl. (Fig. 25) However, while Fischl was primarily interested in exploring corporeal matters, Teraoka seeks to define the intangible currents of different cultures in succinct, humorous, and insightful vignettes.