Integrating traditional imagery and subject matter with pop art, Teraoka casts contemporary issues—from AIDS to computers, environmental degradation, and drive-by shootings—in historical guise. Humor and satire combine with a vibrant iconography drawn from Japanese and Western sources—catfish, trickster, fox, ghost, snake, ninja, samurai, geisha, Adam and Eve, punk rockers, and television. Teraoka's work moves from the indulgent pleasures of ukiyo, or the "floating world" of ancient theater and pleasure houses, to a chastened consciousness of death and evil with a majestic virtuosity unique in contemporary art.