Sorayama
Hajime Sorayama is known world-wide for his imaginative and highly accomplished paintings of beautiful women. Using brush, pencil and acrylic paint, airbrushing only finishing details, he creates memorable images in a hyper-realistic style. He is often referred to as the contemporary Vargas by those familiar with his pin-up style works, and is respected by artists and illustrators for his perfect technique. In retrospect, Sorayama's work has been remarkably prescient. Beginning in the 1970's and evolving into the 21st century, the futuristic aura of the robotic, mythic and fantastical figures in his art have always been ahead of their time. In the late 1990's, Sorayama was approached by the Sony Corporation to design an organic robotic form. It became the famous "AIBO" dog, now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art and then Smithsonian Institute of Technology. Intrigued by the effects of light on various metallic surfaces, and always ready for challenges to his technique and imagination, he began to produce a series of female robotic figures in the late 1970¹s; anatomically correct in form, but appearing to have been fashioned of molten silver. The term "sexy robot" was coined to describe them. Entertainment robot “AIBO” (1st generation) from Sony was designed by Sorayama. AIBO is a permanent collection of MOMA and Smithsonian Institute. The rock group Aerosmith used a Sorayama "Sexy Robot" on a 2001 album cover. The term "Gynoids" was created by the female British SF writer, Gwyneth Jones, and developed by another British writer, Richard Calder. The word is a combination of "droid" (greek "in the image of") and "gyn" (greek "woman").These female cyborgs of Sorayama combine elements both human and mechanical. The soft, sensuous body parts are cleverly intertwined with inorganic, machine-like connections and protrusions to create entrancing images which embody complex and subtle tensions. Please click on a Drawing to see more of Sorayama's works.
Be sure to check out the official Sorayama web site.
