Teiji Hayama’s practice centers on transformation: he distorts and redefines iconic pop culture figures—Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy, and Wonder Woman—rendering them uncanny, layered, and branded.

Hayama’s figures are vibrant yet detached, glamorous yet weary—a poignant commentary on the relentless visibility of the digital era. His meticulous artistic process begins digitally, where he manipulates his subjects, after which he paints the result onto canvas in painstaking detail. In doing so, Hayama interrogates themes of replication and authenticity in the digital age; it is both an homage to the digital age and a rebellion against it.

Rendered in vivid primary colors or stark black and white, his paintings evoke both beauty and exhaustion, presenting icons trapped in a state of perpetual reproduction. Drawing from the legacy of Andy Warhol’s screen prints and modern influencer culture, Hayama reimagines the aura of his figures in an era of mass consumption and virality, offering a powerful meditation on the relationship between production, value, and authenticity in the digital age.

Click HERE for the artist’s CV.

Artnet News: Japanese Artist Teiji Hayama Distorts Pop Icons In Uncanny Paintings