Hajime Sorayama

Hajime Sorayama is best known for his decades-long series of ‘sexy robots’ (1978 onwards). The self-described ‘entertainer’ doesn’t think of his creations as robots in the sense of an automaton or an AI companion. Rather, they are humans who have both metal skin and agency – capable of desiring as well as being desired. Sorayama started this series in the late 70s, inspired by his day job illustrating pin-up models to advertise “luxury goods such as alcohol, cars, and cigarettes.” His fascination with metal, on the other hand, goes back much further. As a child, he would pass by a local factory after school for the pleasure of watching them process the metal. His superrealist illustrations blend his personal fantasies with more mainstream sexual obsessions – accentuating the eyes, mouths, and breasts of the gleaming metal bodies set against retrofuturist landscapes.