Local Color

BY SUZANNE TSWEI

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[ MAUKA-MAKAI ]

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A cat belonging to fellow printmakers was the model for Masami Teraoka's ghost cat image in a work that "serves as social and political commentary on the danger and devastation of sexually transmitted disease."

Print becomes cat’s epitaph
in exhibit of figurative art

The cat is a mysterious creature the world over. In Japan it is a particularly spooky animal, often foreshadowing deaths or ghostly apparitions. (Just for the record, the Japanese also love cats for their grace and inscrutability, treasuring them as members of the family.)

Ignatz, a black cat, was a contented vegetarian who lived in San Francisco with his human companions, printmakers collaborating with Hawaii artist Masami Teraoka, who was exploring the idea of death.

Teraoka hung out with the cat in the artists' Bay area apartment and used it as a model for the ghost cat image in his AIDS Series. The black cat looms over a geisha in an etching that also serves as social and political commentary on the danger and devastation of the sexually transmitted disease.

Work on the etching began in 1989 as Teraoka took periodic trips to the mainland. The print was finished last year, shortly before a funeral notice announcing Ignatz's passing arrived at Teraoka's Waimanalo studio.

"I Love Hawaii" by Michael Harada features his dog, Chunky.

The print is making its first appearance in Hawaii at the Pegge Hopper Gallery after its mainland debut earlier this year. Also being shown is a new erotic woodblock print by Teraoka (but executed by Japanese artisans according to Japanese woodblock printing tradition). Both prints debuted in an exhibit at the Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, which offered the internationally acclaimed artist a mini-retrospective for his works on paper.

Teraoka's prints are being shown -- quietly -- in "Go Figure," a group exhibit featuring works by figurative artists. This exhibit follows a similar exhibit last year -- featuring some of the same artists -- at the Academy Art Center at Linekona.

"Go Figure" Place: The Pegge Hopper Gallery, 1164 Nuuanu Ave. Time: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, through May 11 Call: 524-1160

Last year's title was "Wo/man and Beast," which was rejected by this year's group of artists, who preferred a less sexy moniker. Images of pigs and humans dominated last year's show, while cats are having a larger presence this year. Cats, in rusty metal, show up in Fred Roster's "Cat Fight in Kukui Circle." Cats and other animals appear as dreamlike figures in Maile Yawata's nocturnal themed monoprints.

Kay Mura's "... and baby makes three" shows a monster posing proudly with his new offspring.

Humans and beasts come in adorable as well as menacing forms. Some are thought-provoking and serious, like Jo Rowley's "Gone in 26 Seconds." Using ceramics cast as male body parts, Rowley turned them into pistols that symbolize violence against women.

Animals and people are dreamlike figures in "Body & Soul" by Maile Yawata.

On the lighter side, Mike Harada's dog, Chunky, finishes its business in front of a portable toilet at the beach. Kay Mura's favorite beast, a bearlike lovable monster, is having a baby that turns out to be a yellow worm; a tuft of hair atop its head establishes the DNA link between father and son.

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Gardening Calendar

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Suzanne Tswei's art column runs Sundays in Today.
You can write her at the Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI, 96813
or email stswei@starbulletin.com