Yellowmenace: ART: Tadanori Yokoo (横尾忠則)

February 28, 2015

ART: Tadanori Yokoo (横尾忠則) - Groovy Graphics Master

While I usually try to focus on contemporary Asian art it's always hep to pay tribute to some of the masters, the giants who have made waves so massive the ripples are still being felt today.

Tadanori Yokoo, born in Nishiwaki, Japan, in 1936, is one of Japan's most successful & influential graphic designers & artists. He began his career as a stage designer for avant garde theatre in Tokyo & was close friends with Ken Takakura.

Tadanori Yokoo (横尾忠則) - http://www.tadanoriyokoo.com/

HAIKU Art Review: Tadanori Yokoo

Groovy graphic style
Limitless pop collages
Optical Orgasms

Akira Kurosawa & writer Yukio Mishima are two of Yokoo's most formative influences.

Photo source: Gadabout

In the late 1960s, he became interested in mysticism & psychedelia, deepened by travels in India. Because his art was so attuned to 1960s pop culture, he became very popular internationally & worked with well known musicians & celebrities.

In 1981, he unexpectedly "retired" from commercial work & took up painting after seeing a Picasso retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. His career as a fine artist continues to this day with numerous exhibitions of his paintings every year, but alongside this he remains fully engaged & prolific as a graphic designer.

Text source: Wikipedia