tadanoori yokoo

text by ANDRÉ MICHEL portrait by CHIKASHI SUZUKI   In 1972, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York held a retrospective of Tadanori Yokoo. At the time, he was only 36, making him one of the youngest artists ever to receive that honor. His work lies at the intersection of traditional Japanese motifs and pop culture, encompassing posters, paintings, album covers, and installations. He remains at the forefront of the Japanese avant-garde, collaborating with iconic figures such as the filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and the writer Yukio Mishima. Yokoo was born in Nishiwaki, a small city northwest of Osaka, in 1936 and started working in advertising in Kobe when he was 20. He became a highly sought-after graphic designer for posters, book covers, and advertisements. In the 1960s, frustrated with agency work, he began experimenting with Surrealism, Dada, and Pop Art. He became a major figure of Tokyo’s underground movement…