Kagami + complimentary 29,7 x 21 cm (11,5″ x 8,2″) “Youko” bonus print.

shunga/ paintings/ erotic art

The Book:                                                                                                                   

This Senju Shunga book is a lavishly illustrated collection of the erotic art created by Swedish artist Matti Senju Sandberg

144 pages, 21 x 29,7 cm, high quality soft cover and featuring more than 50 paintings spanning Senju’s work between 2013-2017.

Limited edition of 1000 numbered copies.

Designed by the artist and OKAASAN BOOKS

Printed by Göteborgstryckeriet, Sweden.

Release date: Febraury 2018.

Matti Senju Sandberg spent 28 years tattooing before finally trading needle and skin for brush and paper on a full time basis. His background as a traditional Japanese tattoo artist, combined with decades of hard studies related to everything Japanese, has shaped him as an artist. During his many journeys to Japan his understanding of its history and culture has matured and deepened. Late 2012 he decided to explore the genre of “shunga” (jap. Spring Pictures) and found in this traditional erotic or pornographic form of Japanese art a voice with which he could finally speak his mind.

As a contemporary shunga artist he widens and deepens the idea of erotica by including ideas of gender equality, gender roles and the  workings of the human heart. He promotes the idea of true intimacy as a foundation for experiencing pleasure both physically and spiritually and examines social and psychological myths we have come to regard as reality.

In seeking the full attention and presence of the viewer Senju’s works of art, ranging from the romantic and melancholic to the explicitly pornographic, refuses to be contained or dictated by social, historic or cultural prejudices such as misogyny, sexism, homophobia, rape culture or toxic masculinity.

His belief that the world around us can be changed and endlessly improved by the beauty of art, in its myriad of forms, forms a strong foundation from which he can continue to explore the human heart.

KAGAMI is a summary of Senju's works from the first experiments using the Japanese traditional art form of Shunga (spring pictures) as his reference and inspiration. All paintings are printed full page and comes with a explanatory text supplying insight into the artists mind at the time of the creation of the work.