.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Born in 1936 in Hyogo Prefecture, Tadanori Yokoo is one of the leading figures of the post-war Japanese avant-garde. Known for his graphic design, illustration, and painting, Yokoo, along with his fellow artist Keiichi Tanaami, represent the second generation of Tokyo Pop that was under-valued in the Japan post-war art scene. Moved to Tokyo in the early 1960s, Yokoo began his early career as a stage designer for the experimental Jūrō Kara’s Situation Theatre before making his unparalleled graphic design prints that combine Japanese woodblock tradition with psychedelic and pop art. By 1966 Yokoo began to work on painting and debuted the then iconic series of ‘Pink Girls’ paintings for his solo exhibition in Osaka, two works from the series–Motorcycle (2002) and Moat Part II (2005)–will be offered at the 21st Century Art Day Sale concurrently.
Painted in 2006, M’s Ocean was developed from the work on paper titled Landscape with Glasses and Hat Yokoo created in 1965 for the famous Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima. The present work was commissioned by the collector as a homage to Mishima and thus shares identical composition with the earlier work. Yet, M’s Ocean embodies a completely different atmosphere as the artist employs oil instead of colour ink and saturates the canvas with complementary pigments such as blue and red, yellow and green, reverberating with the solid colour planes that are commonly seen in the Yokoo’s poster design. Rift with absurd and surrealistic subject matters –a bowler hat, a mythical creature, a blonde lady in swimsuit, and a group of faceless men in suits–the present work is emblematic of post-war Japan that once experienced rapid changes and Westernisation.
Firmly rooted in the creative milieu of his day, Yokoo has often cited the filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and writer Yukio Mishima as his influences, while his kinship with works of American artists and designers such as Milton Glaser, Peter Max and Andy Warhol is apparent. As early as 1972, he was the subject of a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. His works are permanently collected by esteemed institutions like M+, Hong Kong and a public museum dedicated to the artist, The Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art was established in Kobe, Japan in 2012.
Painted in 2006, M’s Ocean was developed from the work on paper titled Landscape with Glasses and Hat Yokoo created in 1965 for the famous Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima. The present work was commissioned by the collector as a homage to Mishima and thus shares identical composition with the earlier work. Yet, M’s Ocean embodies a completely different atmosphere as the artist employs oil instead of colour ink and saturates the canvas with complementary pigments such as blue and red, yellow and green, reverberating with the solid colour planes that are commonly seen in the Yokoo’s poster design. Rift with absurd and surrealistic subject matters –a bowler hat, a mythical creature, a blonde lady in swimsuit, and a group of faceless men in suits–the present work is emblematic of post-war Japan that once experienced rapid changes and Westernisation.
Firmly rooted in the creative milieu of his day, Yokoo has often cited the filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and writer Yukio Mishima as his influences, while his kinship with works of American artists and designers such as Milton Glaser, Peter Max and Andy Warhol is apparent. As early as 1972, he was the subject of a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. His works are permanently collected by esteemed institutions like M+, Hong Kong and a public museum dedicated to the artist, The Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art was established in Kobe, Japan in 2012.