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Pollution In Inner And Outer Spaces: Masami Teraoka's Mcdonald's Hamburgers Invading Japan, 1974–5, Harrison W. Inefuku

Harrison W. Inefuku

Japanese-born artist Masami Teraoka arrived in the United States in the 1960s, in the midst of a burgeoning post-war mass consumer society. During a visit to Vancouver, the artist was struck by the Golden Arches of McDonald's looming over the city as a portent of a global takeover by the company. This awareness prompted his series, McDonald's Hamburgers Invading Japan (1974-5), which depicts an old, traditional Japanese culture coming into contact with a new, modern American one with results that are at times humorous, and at others, chaotic. Completed in watercolor to resemble ukiyo-e woodblock prints, Teraoka masterfully fuses Eastern …