Hajime Sorayama: a journey through light, transparency, and the future of form

A landmark exhibition dedicated to the influential career of Hajime Sorayama and the evolution of his futuristic aesthetic is now on view in Tokyo. Titled SORAYAMA: Light, Transparency, Reflection – TOKYO, the exhibition will run from March 14th to May 31st, 2026 at CREATIVE MUSEUM TOKYO. Presenting a wide range of sculptures, paintings, and installations, the exhibition explores the central themes of Sorayama’s work: a fascination with light, reflection, and the merging of technology with the human imagination.

Organised into nine sections, it traces the artist’s work from the late 1970s to the present day, revealing the influence of his polished chrome figures and futuristic visions on the visual language of contemporary art, design, and pop culture.

Robot artwork: the futuristic vision

A defining feature of Sorayama’s career is his exploration of robotic artwork, blending hyperrealistic techniques with speculative visions of the future. His works frequently feature robotic figures, animals and mythical creatures with mirror-like metallic surfaces that capture light and reflections with extraordinary precision.

The Tokyo exhibition showcases Sorayama’s inaugural robot painting, which was created in 1978 for a whisky advertisement. This piece marked the inception of a recurring theme that would later become his signature style. Through these images, Sorayama imagines a world where mechanical forms merge with living bodies, prompting reflection on artificial intelligence, the limits of the human body, and the future relationship between technology and life.

Sorayama himself has frequently emphasised the conceptual foundations of his work, namely the challenge of depicting light, transparency and reflection through paint. For the artist, these elements represent not only technical challenges, but also philosophical explorations of perception, illusion, and beauty.

Hajime Sorayama works: a half-century exploration of light and technology

The retrospective is divided into nine thematic sections, each presenting a different aspect of Sorayama’s creative universe.

Highlights include The Gallery, which features large-scale canvases that expand the artist’s visual vocabulary to include robotic dinosaurs and other futuristic forms, moving beyond the iconic chrome female figure. Another notable section is Aquarium, which presents Sorayama’s renowned shark sculpture — famously described as “the sexiest fish”— displayed as a gleaming object that transforms industrial material into a sensual sculpture.

Interactive installations further immerse visitors in Sorayama’s aesthetic world. In TREX, inspired by the dinosaur imagery that fascinated the artist as a child, monumental mechanical creatures evoke both prehistoric life and science fiction. Meanwhile, the Mirror Maze invites viewers into a reflective environment filled with sculptural surfaces that amplify Sorayama’s signature interplay of light and illusion.

The Archive Room offers a deeper look at the artist’s design career, showcasing original sketches and documents that reveal the development of the AIBO robot dog for Sony, as well as his creative collaborations with luxury brands such as Dior and Roger Dubuis.