Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

If you have never heard of Tadanori Yokoo, please allow us to introduce you. He is perhaps the preeminent Japanese graphic designer of the 20th century, even though he officially retired from that business in 1981 to pursue painting. At the link, you’ll be able to feast your eyes on a series of graphic designs Yokoo did for various exhibitions and events in the late 1960s. We find these images striking, and highly original. Yet, they are also a little strange in that they are very Japanese yet also possess that sort of Haight Street/Peter Max aesthetic which was so common in graphic and promotional design during that era. Yokoo has been compared to Max, and also described as the Japanese Andy Warhol. We think these comparisons are unfair, as Yokoo’s graphic design work possesses a density and richness which work by Max and Warhol, in particular, often lack. (50 Watts blog – Yokoo Graphics Gallery)
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