Language ▾
Poster design: Yokoo Tadanori
The spread of the novel coronavirus, which first emerged in 2020, has transformed our daily lives. It has also become difficult for Yokoo Tadanori to go out or meet people, he holed up in his studio and devoted himself to painting.
As the motif for his latest works, Yokoo chose the Zen monks Hanshan and Shide (known in Japanese as Kanzan and Jittoku) from Tang-dynasty China (618-907CE). Yokoo employed what he calls moro-tai (“obscure style”) to depict the two figures, who are notable for their tousled hair, ragged clothes, and hearty laughter. The painting style is characterized by free-wheeling brushstrokes, tremulous contours, and light coloring, but we also find that there are a number of similarities with Yokoo’s past experiments, which have been marked by a bewildering number of changes.
In addition to presenting a collection of works from the new series, this exhibition includes pieces from the past as examples from Yokoo’s lengthy struggle and search, which unexpectedly resulted in his current approach.
Adult ¥700
University students ¥550
Age 70 and over ¥350
High school students and younger Free
Also on View: YOKOO TADANORI COLLECTION GALLERY 2022
The Yokoo Tadanori Collection Gallery, newly established in 2021, was designed to display documents from Yokoo Tadanori’s archive as well as showcasing a diverse range of collections that Yokoo has maintained for many years in order to provide a deeper and slightly different perspective on the artist’s body of work.
In this iteration, we focus on Man Ray (1890-1976), one of Yokoo’s artistic influences. An important figure in the Surrealist movement, and the creator of important works in a diverse range of media, including paintings, art objects, and short films, Man Ray also made a valuable contribution to the history of photography by discovering and developing new techniques such as the rayograph and soft focus. Some years ago Yokoo acquired a series of portraits of women taken by Man Ray, and he subsequently derived creative inspiration from the works.
Along with these works by Man Ray from Yokoo’s personal collection, we present works by Yokoo that use Man Ray as a motif. It is our hope that this special exhibition will provide you with insight into the relationship between the artist and his collection.
Date April 9 (Sat.) – July 18 (Mon.), 2022
Closed: Mondays (or the next weekday. if Monday is a national holiday)
Hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (admission until 17:30)
