Genkyo – Yokoo Tadanori – II – Works
Genkyo – Yokoo Tadanori – II – Works / ISBN 9784336071019 / massive 460-page hardcover, 9.5 x 12 inches, hundreds of illustrations (the publisher says “about 1000”), published by Kokushokankokai / Japanese with some English (titles in English)
If you can look past the strange cover choice, this is one of the best Yokoo books in a long, long time (published in 2021).
***
Tadanori Yokoo held his first solo exhibition of paintings in 1966 in Tokyo. His revolutionary work, which oscillates between conceptual art and pure design, rapidly gained attention in the international art world. With a signature style of colourful psychedelia and pastiche, he engages a wide spectrum of modern visual and cultural phenomena from Japan and elsewhere. The subject matter often clashes with what seems a nonsensical collage of images. ‘Genkyo’ is an exuberant, far-reaching anthology of Yokoo’s work throughout the years, with a special focus on how the artist constantly revisits and remakes the same images and themes in a mind-blowing variety of styles and artworks.