Why bother with the hassle of a real woman when you can create a perfect one from your imagination — one that doesn’t clutter up the bathroom with lotion bottles, doesn’t leave hairpins and scrunchies everywhere, and who will, with a proper maintenance schedule and a regular application of WD40, stay in perfect working order for a lifetime?
Hajime Soriyama’s “women” may be a bit cold to the touch, but they are perfect in every other way, and that’s one of the attractions for Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama.
They say that sex sells, so it’s no wonder that with a deep interest in eroticism and the female form, the Tokyo art school graduate initially went to work for an advertising company. Sorayama went freelance in 1972, but it was a decade later that he came to international attention with the publication of his Sexy Robot series, which explored the sensual properties of metal through futuristic gynoid pin-ups.
Sony brought Sorayama’s talents into the mainstream as a product designer on the first generation of the company’s AIBO robot (his creation is now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute), and the airbrush virtuoso also collaborated with Aerosmith on the cover art for 2001 album Just Push Play.
Hong Kong gallery AISHONAZUKA is hosting a retrospective until 3 October.
