The three sculptures by Masami Teraoka (b. 1936) displayed here were largely created in response to the sexual revolution that the artist personally experienced in Los Angeles during the 1960s: the rise of feminism and gay activism, the legalization of the birth control pill, and the general relaxation of the public’s social mores, particularly in regard to sexuality.

Years later, while visiting Nagoya, Japan, Teraoka learned that the display of large-scale wooden phalluses (dankon) in public events such as the annual Harvest Festival (Hōnen Matsuri) has been common throughout the country for centuries. Like shunga, however, these phallic processions lost popularity at the end of the 19th century. Ironically, Tagata Shrine, one of the few Shintō shrines that continues to sponsor the Harvest Festival, is located close to Nagoya.

Unlike dankon, which some might criticize as phallocentric, Teraoka’s sculptures refer indirectly to a variety of sexual anatomy: a sperm cell, a woman’s vagina, and a fusion of male and female genitalia.