Poster design: Yokoo Tadanori
Death casts a shadow across Yokoo Tadanori’s work, in a counterpoint to its overflowing vitality. From imagery suggestive of death, such as skulls and skeletons, to elements from personal memory, including photographs of deceased classmates and skies turned red by air raids, these varied expressions of death confront the viewer with powerful force.
This exhibition explores Yokoo’s perspectives on death by deciphering recurring imagery in his works, through which he continues to depict life while unflinchingly reflecting on death.
Section 1 focuses on skulls, as well as Yokoo’s distinctive allegories, tracing the development of his view of life and death through painting. Section 2 presents a celebratory spectacle of coexistent life and death unfolding within the venue. Skulls dwelling in everyday objects, such as tableware and clothing, beckon visitors on a journey from this world into the next. Section 3 stages a festival of skulls in poster form, as skulls that once adorned the streets travel through time to join a grand reunion.
This exhibition is a revival of the as-yet-unrealized Yokoo Tadanori’s Skull Festival, canceled just before its opening in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope it offers unique opportunities to reflect on death and life while exploring Yokoo’s perspectives on mortality.
Adult ¥800
University students ¥600
Age 70 and over ¥400
High school students and younger Free
Organized by Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art (Hyogo Arts & Culture Association), Setouchi Art Museum Link Executive Committee, Fukutake Foundation, Japan Arts Council and Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Supported by Nakagawa Chemical Inc.
In cooperation with Hotel Okura, Kobe, Art Planet.Y, HIGURE 17-15 cas, Skull Museum
Setouchi Art Museum Link
As a wide-area collaboration project for the Setouchi Triennale 2025, which will be held from April 18, 2025, eight art museums across three prefectures— Kagawa, Okayama, and Hyogo—will host exhibitions primarily showcasing works by contemporary Japanese artists during the festival period. A common discount ticket for all eight museums will be available from the link below.
The ticket is valid for “Revival! Yokoo Tadanori’s Skull Festival (2025 Sep.13—Dec.28).”
Setouchi Art Museum Link official website:
Poster design: Yokoo Tadanori
Hanshan and Shide are believed to have lived in China during the Tang dynasty. Although they immersed themselves in writing poetry, they dressed in rags and engaged in eccentric behavior. In reality, however, they were the bodhisattvas Manjushri and Samantabhadra. Like characters from a fairy tale, the two have attracted and been depicted by many artists throughout history. Similarly, Yokoo Tadanori found Hanshan and Shide to be an ideal image for an artist, leading him to make a total of 102 paintings of the two over an approximately one-year period.
This exhibition takes up where the last one, Forward to the Past: Yokoo Tadanori’s Road to Hanshan and Shide, left off. Yokoo’s quest, which began with his new interpretation of a work by Soga Shohaku, evolved in a free-wheeling manner as he projected Hanshan and Shide onto a wide range of imagery. These included ukiyo-e-style pictures of beautiful women, floating Belorussian lovers, and a group of marathon runners.
All of these new works are being shown in this museum for the first time. Enjoy viewing today’s Yokoo who, even after a painting career of 40 years, only grows stronger.
Adult ¥700
University students ¥550
Age 70 and over ¥350
High school students and younger Free
Also on View: YOKOO TADANORI COLLECTION GALLERY 2024 Part1
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, and various related materials in order to provide a deeper and slightly different perspective on the artist’s body of work.
Running simultaneously with Tadanori Yokoo: 100 Takes on Hanshan and Shide is an exhibit of related works and materials. In addition to Hanshan and Shide 2020 (2019), the first work in the eponymous series, and some prints, we present a selection of reproductions of works based on the theme of Hanshan and Shide from the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, which served as the Tokyo venue for Tadanori Yokoo: 100 Takes on Hanshan and Shide.
Dates May 25 (Sat.) – August 25 (Sun.), 2024
Closed: Mondays (except Jul. 15 and Aug. 12) and Jul. 16, Aug. 13
Hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (admission until 17:30)
