For Immediate Release:

Masami Teraoka "Tower of Babel" at Jay Grimm Gallery, Chelsea

Jay Grimm Gallery at 505 West 28th Street, New York, will hold an exhibition of paintings by the internationally known artist Masami Teraoka from November 2nd through December 9th, 2000. There will be a reception at the gallery on Thursday, November 2nd, from 7-9 P.M., and the artist will be present. The exhibition is presented in conjunction with Pamela Auchincloss, 601 West 26th Street, 12th Floor, where a concurrent exhibition by the artist is on view through November 22nd.

Born in Onomichi, Japan, Masami Teraoka moved to Los Angeles in 1961 to attend the Otis Art Institute. This move informed the culture shock of Teraoka's work in the late 1970s and 1980s, wherein geisha sometimes chase french fries under McDonald's golden arches or open condoms, painted in the style of Edo-period ukiyo-e woodblock prints. The importance of Teraoka's keen and pointed commentary about the cultural shifts and blatant denials that are shaping global society were quickly and widely recognized. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art mounted a solo show of his work in 1977, followed soon by shows at the Whitney Museum, Newport Harbor Art Museum and the Grey Art Gallery. Teraoka has exhibited internationally ever since and has been the subject of several monographs and essays.

Teraoka's new body of work, the "Tower of Babel" series consists of epic narratives filled with dark and unsettling characters and stereotypes, such as tortured victims of technology and the media, scavengers, martyrs, and zealots. His new works have shifted away from the ukiyo-e influences, and now have affinities with Western medieval painting and the apocalyptic visions of Hieronymous Bosch. Teraoka's images of sex, betrayal, confusion, religious intolerance and cyber-reality depict culture as in decline, where people are consumed by the welter of information that surrounds them.

The shows at Jay Grimm and Pamela Auchincloss will consist of large-scale works up to 24 feet long, as well as tiny oval-shaped canvases measuring under six inches. Pamela Auchincloss Project Space is located at 601 West 26th Street, 12th Floor, and the phone number is 212.727.2845. Masami Teraoka will lecture on this body of work on Friday, November 3rd at 7:30 P.M. at the Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street, as part of the Pratt Institute Lecture Series.

Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11-6 P.M. and by appointment. Please call the Gallery at 212.564.7662 for images or additional information, or visit our website at www.jaygrimm.com