Much of the Japanese art we have covered over the years tingles with a sense of the salacious and taboo. From Sorayama to Tanaami, Madsaki to Kusama, some of the most intriguing contemporary Japanese art touches on psychedelia and sex, isolation and post-war consumerism. One of the beacons of a new generation of Japanese painters and illustrators pushing the boundaries of “NSFW” type content is Tokyo-based Ataru Sato, known for his dense pencil and elaborate line works. When Sato was younger, an academic tried to steer him toward a more familiar path. “A teacher told me that there were some pictures that should not be shown and things that might hurt someone or make them feel bad should not be expressed, no matter the artist’s will… After these warnings, I started to let paintings out secretly.”
What emerged has come to fruition in Ataru Sato: Super Sensitive, featuring works from 2008-21, that focus on drawing as a map to explore fear, lust, innocence, and even romance, an honesty conveyed with the simplicity of pen and pencil. A limited edition release and his first published work since 2009, it exemplifies the duality of making work that transcends the personal into exhibition form. Some renderings are deeply individualistic portrayals of his own nude body, and others have the comic-book charm of an artist not afraid to create storyboard narratives. But pulsing throughout, are highly erotic, deeply philosophical, and unabashedly psychedelic works. Like the great illustrators Marco Mazzoni and Vania Zouravliov, Sato wields pen and pencil to create other worlds, imaginative, and adventurous. Japanese art at its finest. —Evan Pricco
