Warning : The following post contains nudity/adult content.

I’ve come across pictures of Australian artist Ron Mueck’s uncannily realistic, larger than life sculptures on the internet and have always been fascinated by them, so getting to see them really up-close and in person at this exhibition was certainly one of the bigger highlights of my Tokyo trip. The exhibition is held at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi, Tokyo.

(above) This particular piece, other than been remarkable in it’s realism, seems rather mundane, until you see it from the back ( image below ) and the way the girl’s hand is been held, suggestion some unspoken and uneasy tension between the 2 figures. This seems to be a common and recurring theme in the artist’s work, compelling the viewer to scrutinize what at first glance seems to be something ordinary.

(above & below) The highlight of the exhibition is undoubtedly the final showcase, a huge room filled with giant human skulls piled ceiling high.

Death will always be larger than Life. ?

( Ron Mueck exhibition, Mori Art Museum Roppongi, Tokyo ) pic.twitter.com/JX3hXAbODK

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) May 20, 2026

Ron Mueck’s super realistic sculptures was a true eye-opener and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to this fantastic exhibition. At the time of writing this article the exhibition is still in session and will run for another 2 months or so until late September 2026, so if you’re in Tokyo and/or are planning to do so within this time period, I can wholely recommend visiting this exhibition.

I also picked up the exhibition catalog ( image below ) and will be writing the book review for it soon, so look out for it. The book is available for purchase from Amazon Japan.

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A mind-warping graphic novel from the master of comics, Jean “Mœbius” Giraud – for the first time in English !

In this graphic novel prequel to The Major, Mœbius’s Major Grubert finds himself attempting to chase away the blues by getting into a surreal adventure! Taking a vacation to the Airtight Garage to clear his mind, Grubert walks straight into an assassination plot: His own!

As the Major goes undercover, the late, great French master cartoonist Mœbius returns to form here, in The Depressed Hunter, taking readers into the intricate world of the Major’s dreams—and nightmares!—with the lush, exquisite pen-and-ink work for which the author is best known. Another intensely psychedelic adventure that only Mœbius could take us on!

Translated by Diana Schutz, who continues to provide illuminating translator’s notes, and skillfully lettered—reflecting Mœbius’s own work—by Adam Pruett (The World of Edena, The Major).

Moebius is a legendary artist that I respect enormously, having influenced so many of the Japanese manga artists that I love; Otomo Katsuhiro, Katsuya Terada, Hayao Miyazaki, Yukito Kishiro, just to name a few. As such, this book is an easy recommendation, especially when it is only now available in English for the very first time.

“Moebius Library: The Depressed Hunter” details :

– Dimensions – 8.68 x 0.45 x 11.13 inches
– Hardcover, 88 pages
– Full color

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Warning : The following post contains nudity/adult content. This book is not suitable for children !

Sorayama Hajime (空山基) is a veteran Japanese artist well known internationally for his photo-realistic airbrush illustrations, in particular erotic bondage/SM art. This art book is a revised/variant edition of the largely out-of-print Gynoids Reborn art book that I reviewed back in 2019, with quite a bit of overlapping content.

What is new in this edition- the addition of new art work and photographs of Sorayama’s sculptural pieces that were showcased at his spring 2026 art exhibition ‘Light, Reflection, Transparency’ held at the Creative Museum in Tokyo.

You can read more about my visit to the exhibition here.

(image above) Sorayama’s contemporary take on Hokusai’s famous Shunga ukiyo-e piece “The Dream Of The Fisherman’s Wife”.

(image above) A stunning piece featuring the Maschinenmensch ( Machine-Human ) from Fritz Lang’s 1927 German expressionist sci-fi film Metropolis, and one of my favorite pieces I was lucky enough to see in person at the exhibition.

Sorayama Hajime is undoubtably a spectacular artist, with amazing technical skills that are matched by his equally bold choice of subject matter. This large format book is packed full of high quality reproductions of his art work, and anyone who enjoys tastefully executed erotic adult art will certainly appreciate. Highly recommended.

Note – I have added mosaic to one art piece above that I deemed too explicit for my blog, but all the art work printed in the book are free of any censorship. I should also mentioned that the pieces that I have showcased above are the relatively ‘milder’ ones, there are some included in the book that are a wee bit too ‘wild’ for my comfort to share here.

“Sorayama The Gynoids Sublime Art Book details :

– Dimensions – 10.16 x 0.47 x 14.37 inches
– Hardcover, 130 pages
– Full color, in Japanese

  
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I discovered this beautifully illustrated art book by Kelly Beeman ( titled ‘Window Shopping‘ ) while browsing a museum shop after my visit to Ron Mueck’s exhibition in Tokyo last month.

The artist’s work is completely new to me, but a few pages into the book and I quickly decided that I like her work. The clearly Modigliani-ish inspired characters are stylish and elegant, and I also see hints of color use that remind me of Gustav Klimt’s work, one of my favorite painters of all time. And finally, I’m a big fan of the Superflat style of art, with clean line-work and flat colors.

The book is entirely free of any writing or text, a showcase of purely just art work, with some select fold-out pages.

Book synopsis – Exotic gardens, cool swimming pools, country-house picnics and cocktail parties form the backdrop for Brooklyln-based fashion illustrator/artist Kelly Beeman’s (b. 1983) long-limbed, elegantly dressed Modigliani-like women. They are the protagonists of Beeman’s profuse fantasy world brimming with childhood memories of Oklahoma and subtle nods and tributes to interior design, architecture, music and literature.

For Beeman’s first publication, both survey and artist’s book, she gathers over 50 color illustrations whose sources of inspiration include lookbooks and catwalk shots. An autodidact, Beeman studied sociology at Hunter College in New York, then worked for several years in Bolivia and Argentina. Her background in sociology informs how she thinks about her artwork: it’s about the relationship between culture and fashion, a fundamental aspect of every society.

“Dressing” her subjects is a way for Beeman to create characters, stories and cultural context and explore their significance in a world of self-display. Her inspirations, she says, are the New Objectivity, especially Christian Schad and Otto Dix, graphic works of the Vienna Secession as well as Classic and Byzantine art. Beemans illustrations have been widely published internationally in Vogue China and Vogue Korea, InStyle, Marie Claire Italia and Numero Tokyo for fashion labels such as Dior, Tory Burch and many others.

Stylish and elegant fashion illustrations that would look splendid framed up on any wall space. I’m really glad I discovered the work of Kelly Beeman. This comes recommended.

“Kelly Beeman : Window Shopping Illustration” book details :

– Dimensions – 9.6 x 0.5 x 12.7 inches
– Hard cover
– 72 pages, full color

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Officially unveiled in late December 2025, ‘Procession Spin’, the bas-relief sculpture by AKIRA creator Otomo Katsuhiro has been high on my list of things to see during my spring trip to Tokyo. You can read a little more about the piece’s background in my earlier post here, complete with some amazing concept art illustrations by Otomo.

Packed full of fascinating characters, creatures, architecture and even a small but immediately recognizable manga/anime icon, I must have taken well over a hundred photographs of the piece from every humanly angle. Besides a handful of other curious tourists that stopped by to snap a cursory picture or two, I pretty much had the entire art piece to myself as the jaded locals whizzed past it like wallpaper they’ve seen a thousand times on their daily mundane commute.

(image above) The famous ‘Jomon Astronaut’ also makes a prominent appearance.

(image below) Otomo of course signs his art work with a piece from his most iconic creation; Kaneda and his red bike from his magnum opus anime/manga AKIRA. Located around the bottom left of the sculpture, it is actually quite small and one can actually miss it completely if they were not aware of it presence prior.

An elaborate and fascinating art piece that is well worth visiting even if you’re not a particularly huge fan of Otomo. My itinerary suggestion ?- pair your visit with a trip to the excellent Tsutaya Books Ginza Six located nearby for a pleasant day in rich art & culture.

Procession Spin is located at Tokyo Metro Ginza station ( Hibiya Line ). This is the exact location.

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