'Japan's Andy Warhol' proves himself to be something more in Seoul exhibition

By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, March 4 (Yonhap) -- Perhaps because his work is so influenced by 1960s pop
culture, Tadanori Yokoo is often dubbed, unfairly, "Japan's Andy Warhol."
But while he is one of the few contemporary artists to have achieved both
commercial and critical success comparable to the late U.S. artist, Yokoo's
complex and multi-layered images -- spanning graphic design, illustration and
painting -- are intensely autobiographical and original.
In his first Seoul exhibition, opening Wednesday, the 73-year-old artist presents
a collection that represents his decades-long role as a flagman of Japan's
post-war pop culture and offers a chance to compare the zeitgeists of Seoul and
Tokyo.
Born in 1936 in southern city of Hishiwaki, Yokoo began his career as a stage
designer in Tokyo's avant garde theater scene. He was influenced heavily by the
social movements of the 1960s, a period he describes as a "turbulent era when
there was not one ordinary day." Yokoo quickly gained popularity with poignant
expressions of the spirit of that time in his posters and other graphic works.
"The feeling in the 60s was a mixture of hope, desperation and anxiety. The old
system was beginning to tear itself down and something new was slowing emerging
via a collaboration of destruction and creation," the artist said in a recent
interview with a Japanese media outlet.
Local art experts say the development of Yokoo's style also reflects Korea's own
cultural and political turmoil during its period of rapid economic development,
which began under the authoritarian Park Chung-hee regime in the 1960s.
Japan similarly enjoyed vibrant economic activity not long after World War II,
becoming the world's second-richest country after the United States, while
internally suffering from widening social rifts.
Largely supportive of the young students who defied traditional Japanese values,
Yokoo is considered a leading figure of the nation's underground cultural
movement, which later formed the core of Japanese modern art.
He began to receive international recognition in the late 1960s when his graphic
design works were presented at the "Word & Image" exhibition at New York's Museum
of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1968.
Several solo exhibitions followed his successful U.S. debut -- at the
Netherlands' Stedelijk Museum (1974), Germany's Museum of fur Kunst und gewerbe
(1982), the French Musee de La Publicite (1983) and Italy's Palazzo Bianco
(1985).
Earning unprecedented fame in the West as an Asian graphic artist, Yokoo also
designed album covers for pop groups Santana and The Beatles in 1974 and 1977,
respectively.
Yokoo has since won a number of international awards including the grand prize at
Finland's International Poster Biennial (2005) and the silver prize of New York's
Art Directors Club (2004). His works are possessed by over 80 art museums all
over the world including New York's MoMA and London's Victoria & Albert Museum.
In 1981, he unexpectedly retired from commercial work and took up painting. His
career as a fine artist continues to this day with numerous exhibitions,
including one in 2006 at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art Contemporain in Paris
last year. He also continues to pursue graphic design for purely artistic
purposes.
The Seoul exhibition will showcase five poster prints from the 1960s and 15 oil
paintings Yokoo has been working on since 2000 under the title "Y-Junction."
The exhibition will run through April 12 at the Arario Gallery in central Seoul.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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