Special feature |YOKOO Tadanori-Ever-Changing, Like Water
Work Captions

Shin The Falling Woman III, 2021-2022
Falling
The title of the work is Shin the Falling Woman III. Where has thewoman fallen from? The tiger-patterned hanging rope and red
circular scribbles may have fallen with her as well.
The wooden door in the background appears to have beenreferenced from Marcel Duchamp’s work, Given: 1. The Waterfall,
2.The Illuminating Gas.
Falling water=waterfalls are abundant in Yokoo’s work. Perhaps
the blue lining of the woman’s clothing is the color of water?

Bride, 1966
The Water’s Left Running!
A bride with her breasts shamelessly revealed rolls back hereyes, mouth wide open, picking her nose, while everythingaround her is flooded with water. This work was presented at
Yokoo’s solo exhibition in 1966. Japanese author and poet
Mishima Yukio, who wrote a text for the exhibition, commented,“What rude art, what a lack of etiquette!”
In his 1987 diary entry Yokoo had written, “I must be vulgar,” “I
must produce the most radical paintings” and “I must submit mywhole life as a work of art.” *A LA MAISON DE M.CIVEÇAWA (Garumera shokai), 1965
“The Greatest Cultural Magnetic Field on Earth”
In the late 1960s, Yokoo began to use all kinds of media as
objects of expression while keeping graphic design at the centerof his activities. He wrote that the "greatest cultural magnetic
field on earth" was created through interactions with figures
such as Mishima Yukio, Hosoe Eikoh, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko,
Hijikata Tatsumi, Terayama Shuji, Kara Juro, Ichiyanagi Toshi, andOshima Nagisa.
Yokoo intentionally incorporated into his works vulgarity andcruelty, as well as the personal and fragmented everyday life thatmodern design had discarded, creating grotesque and colorfulworlds that do not cease to captivate.

*Exhibited at “Yokoo Tadanori: A Full Stomach! (Man-Man-Puku-Puku-Man-Puku)” (Yokoo
Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art, 2023), and also republished in “1987 April 19-20”
Tadanori Yokoo: Diary Life 1982-1995, Madra Publishing, 1995.

Shin The Bride in the Mirror, Even, 2021/2022
Behind the Bride
A bride stands facing a mirror while holding a razor to her face.
Although her surroundings aren’t flooded, she is still as blatantly
unreserved as ever. The work is an iteration and variation of The
Bride painted in 1966.
Above the washbasin where there would usually be a mirror, isthe work by Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), The Bride Stripped
Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. It appears reversed due to beingreflected in the mirror, or perhaps it is a view of it from behindsince the work itself is painted on panes of glass.
An airplane approaches from behind the bride who is stripped
naked.

Torture, 1969
An “Invitation”
This triptych was exhibited at the 6th Paris Youth Biennale in1969, where it was awarded the Grand Prize for prints. The six
images, one above and one below on each of the three prints,
are created by printing with one or multiple plates, and there is
no so-called notion of completion here. The process ofprintmaking itself is shown as unfinished.
As our gaze is “invited” to wander through the intense colors,
we eventually find ourselves mesmerized by the alluring
depiction of the figure’s feet.

Shin Hong Kong Night/Shin James Bond /Shin Escape to
the Incompletion, 2021-2022
New works of “Shin-Rojin[Elderly]”

HOSOE Eikoh Photo works, Ordeal by Roses Reedited
Version(Shueisha), 1971

The works with “New” at the beginning of their title, were
produced in 2022. This is the first time they are presented tothe public.
All of these works are based on works that were featured in
Yokoo’s solo exhibition in 1966. In his exhibition in 2021, Yokoopresented prints of his acrylic paintings. The works introducedon this occasion have been produced by making additionalmarks to those prints. By adding various scribble-like touches,
works of the past are transformed into “New” works. Many
layers of time thus reside within these works.

The Reclining Buddha
Ordeal by Roses (Re-edited Version), published in 1971, is collectionof photographs of Mishima Yukio taken by Hosoe Eikoh. Yokoo
had been appointed to work on the design and illustrations forthis book. This reedited version includes a new chapter titled"The Eye of the Sea," in which the sea, one of Mishima’s key
literary subjects, is explored through Hosoe's photographs andYokoo's illustrations.
Mishima described this image of himself with Hindu deities as"me as a reclining buddha," and anticipated that Yokoo would bevisiting India.

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"Shambala", 1974

Are You Ready for Reading the Book of Yoichiro Minami?,
1992

The Home of One’s Soul

The Thrill and Excitement of Childhood

In 1970, following a traffic accident, Yokoo announced that hewould be taking a hiatus. Through spiritual experiences, dreamsof UFOs, and the death of Mishima, Yokoo had lost interest in
the real and pragmatic, instead beginning his pursuit of theuniverse, the afterlife, and other worlds to which one’s souloriginally belonged and to which it will eventually return.
Of particular interest were legends regarding the kingdom ofAgartha, which is said to exist within a hollow inside the earth,and the belief that superhuman beings living in its capital of
Shambhala have the power to raise the consciousness of thoseliving upon the surface. This series of prints illustrates suchaspirations that the artist harbored.

The title of the work, “the Book of Yoichiro Minami,” refers to
The Adventures of Balubar, a jungle adventure novel written by
Yoichiro Minami and illustrated by Gyosui Suzuki, which Yokoo
had read with absorbed interest as a child. Depicted in the upper
corner of the image is the "One-Eyed Golden Lion," acompanion of " Balubar " who is the Japanese incarnation of
Tarzan.
The blue silhouette is a duel scene between Miyamoto Musashi
and Sasaki Kojiro. It is based on what Yokoo had enthusiasticallycopied from a picture book published by Kodansha when he wasfive years old.
The glittering light of the falling waterfall seems to heighten the
feeling of excitement.

As This Time the Pursuit of Truth Has Already Started, 1991

300 Years Party, 1996

Jungle and Waterfalls

Dreaming for 300 Years

This work is based on the front cover of the American magazine
Jungle Comics. It is an adventure story featuring “KAANGA,” acharacter derived from Tarzan.
As can be seen from the text, the original cover image is
depicted in reverse. Countless waterfalls flow through thecharacters who appear transparent asides from their faces andclothes. The setting seems to have shifted from the jungle to anotherworldly realm of waterfalls.

Since the mid-1990s, Yokoo has created many works withthemes of adventure and other worlds rooted in his boyhood
experiences and memories.
The image of Urashima Taro in this work is based on a picturebook published by Kodansha. A diver witnesses Urashima Taroon a turtle returning to earth from the underwater Dragon
Palace with a mysterious jeweled box in his hand. With warm
tones that seem to be enveloped in light, it depicts an undersea
fairy tale that transcends both time and space.

Gathering and Dispersing-The Action of Its Power, 1991
What has the Artist Painted?

Experimental Report, 1996

This work is based on Las Meninas by the Spanish painter Diego
Velázquez. Velázquez is said to have painted the portrait of theKing and Queen reflected in a mirror positioned in the centerof the image.
Seen reflected in the mirror in Yokoo’s work is Kegon Falls in
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture. If so, has the artist painted a waterfall?
Yokoo concentrated on paintings of waterfalls since 1988,
drawing inspiration from his dreams.

Two as One
A couple of boys appear to be fixated on the scene unfolding
before them. Let us follow their example and take a look.
From the woman gathering skeletons in the foreground to thestar in the furthest background, all of the figures and objects
depicted in the work are numbered. While the number
corresponds to the order in which the artist painted them, they
appear to have gathered in this cave from all over the place,seemingly unaware of each other’s presence. Looking closely,
once notices that many of them are in pairs, and even the waterthat flows down from the waterfall becomes one inside the cave.

Dragon Vessel, 1988-1989
Yokoo’s Mirror Cruel World

Princess Konohana-Sakuya's Rebirth, 1998

This series of five printings reimagines the story of Ruggiero andAngelica from the epic poem Orlando Furioso by Italian
Renaissance poet Ludovico Ariosto. The story is of a knight
rescuing a princess from the clutches of a sea monster, yet here
the characters are respectively replaced with a warrior, awoman in bondage, and a tyrannosaurus.
Perhaps the work represents the anguish of having a lack of
freedom due to constantly being trapped by something, as wellas the very desire to escape from it. In the world behind themirror, one may find a way to escape without resorting to thehelp of warriors.

Portrait of Mt. Fuji
Princess Konohana Sakuya is the goddess of Mt. Fuji in Japanese
mythology, and her symbols of the moon and the sun are
depicted on either side of the image.
Up close, it is possible to see a myriad of faces pasted
throughout. It is as if countless people are being drawn to Mt.
Fuji’s tremendous energy. This work too, must have beencreated in response to the great power of Mt. Fuji.

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To the Another World, 2000

Fall, 1982

This World and the Afterlife

The Painter Reborn

This work was painted in Yokoo’s hometown of Nishiwaki City,
Hyogo Prefecture. Portraits of his deceased classmates float
amidst the scenery of a railroad track that runs over an ironbridge near Shin-Nishiwaki Station. Yokoo himself is also seen,
painted in red as a living person.
A red spider lily is painted in the foreground along with a moththat was perched on the floor at the artist’s feet during the timeof production. Just as the moth representing the soul of the deadhad flown into the studio, the railroad track also serves toconnect this world and the afterlife.

A pink male figure, stark naked, is being struck by a waterfall.
The waterfall transforms into different colors while splashingsymmetrically from the shoulders, navel, groin, knees, and ankles,
as if reacting to the man’s body.
In Yokoo’s 1966 solo exhibition, pink women were painted
against a background of water. This work was created in 1982,
when he began presenting his work with the determination of
becoming an artist.
In the way that performing cold water ablutions enable one toexperience a sense of awakening and regeneration, the work
itself can be seen as Yokoo restarting his career as a painter.

Shot Inspiration, 1991
A Dark Night's Flashing: Double Darkness, 2001

The Annunciation

A Nonexistent Landscape

The work is based on the Annunciation, in which the Archangel
Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she would conceiveand bear a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yokoo imagined
the inspiration “shot” from the angel to dwell in the artist andmanifest as a work of art.
Floating amidst the yellow are UFOs. They are painted from a
photograph Yokoo took when he witnessed a UFO at the fifth
station of Mount. Fuji. For Yokoo, UFOs and angels are bothmessengers from another world.

The “Y-junction" is a series of landscape paintings in which asingle road branches off into two paths, one on the left and one
on the right, with its junction positioned in the center of theimage.
What Yokoo had considered as a memorable place in his
hometown, when photographed, simply turned out to be a Yjunction at night. His encounter with this Y-junction became the
incentive for this series.
This seemingly familiar landscape is in fact a landscape that is
nowhere to be found, created through combining photographs
taken in different locations.

Mysterious Benefit, 2021
Two Smiling Figures

Picasso in the 20th Year, 2001

This work is from the series “Hanshan and Shide,” which waspresented in Yokoo’s 2021 solo exhibition. Hanshan and Shideare two legendary Chinese monks of the Tang Dynasty. Hanshan
is depicted holding a scroll on which he inscribes poems, but it
has been replaced by a roll of toilet paper. The sight of them
playfully straddling a toilet bowl seems appropriate for these
two figures known for their eccentricity.
The red shapes floating around them are brushstrokes that havebeen contoured and filled in. Akin to the unexpected shapes thathave emerged upon the canvas, the two figures seem to havesuddenly come riding on their toilet bowls.

From an Encounter with Picasso
Yokoo decided to become a painter after seeing a Picasso
exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1980.
He intuitively understood that life and creativity are to be foundin play and expressing one’s emotions honestly like Picasso.
The boy and girl crossing the bridge are inverted in relation to
the waterfall and the basin, which are depicted in an uprightposition. Just as the dosojin (tutelar deity of borders and paths)
pasted on the image stands at the boundary between here andthere, and between the world of the living and the afterlife, thework serves to connect two opposing things.

Love of Heaven and Earth, 1994
The Death of Two Men

Destiny, 1997

Painted in the lower right corner of the image is Mishima Yukio,
referenced from Shinoyama Kishin’s book of photographs, The
Death of a Man. The figure in the upper left corner is based ona photograph published in Tadanori Yokoo’s Posthumous Works.
Yokoo himself was also to be featured as a subject in Death of aMan, but this was never realized due to his unexplained illness.
In this work, one could say that the death of these two men is
finally depicted together within a single image. As it is mentionedin Yokoo’s 2022 novel Genkyo no Mori (“Forest in Soul”), thecommunion between Yokoo and Mishima continues to be a
deep and long-lasting one.

Red Cosmos
A girl and boy are crossing a bridge through the red darkness
amidst a nebula and the light of flying fireflies. Their path isprotected by a celestial robe that gently drifts above them.
Perhaps the reason why we can only see the lower half of thegirl and boy is because they have only just set foot in this world.
These two who make an appearance in Picasso in the 20th Year,remain close to each other as they walk along a bridge thatlooks as if it is about to collapse. Such suggests Yokoo's creative
attitude of trying to retain the sensibility of a child.

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A Dark Night's Flashing: From the Red Darkness, 2001

TADANORI YOKOO, 1965/SELECTED POSTERS 116(amus arts press), 2001

Two Worlds
A Falling Man
The cemetery along the left path is engulfed in a sea of red, while
the path on the right is lush with greenery.
At first glance, the landscape appears to be divided into theworld of the dead and the world of the living, yet a green lightis seen in the distance beyond the cemetery, while the roots ofthe trees are illuminated in red. In the midst of these twointersecting worlds, will the red dog venture towards the realmof green?
Both the red and green worlds depicted in this Y-junction, canoriginally be traced back to the same one road.

This poster was produced for the graphic design exhibition“Persona,” held in 1965. Yokoo, who was still in the early days of
his career at the time, with the intention of creating an“advertisement for myself,” depicted an image of him hanging
himself under what looks like a banner of his own name.
Let's take a slight change of perspective. In his poster
announcing the publication of his collection of works, books ofhis selected posters are seen falling from the sky attached toparachutes. Yokoo himself may have indeed used the rope todescend upon earth from some distant planet. Perhaps in thisway he continues to communicate various messages through hiswork.

I was born on the same day as Helen Keller, June 27, to my father's
younger brother and his wife, and adopted by the main Yokoo
family. My adoptive parents told me they found me under thebridge. Since small, I often lay beneath the stars imagining mydestiny; and I likened myself to a firefly, which twinkles like a star.
I know clearly that an invisible guardian spirit and the Rat of theChinese zodiac have been my companions on my long voyage.,
2001

Texts by FUJII Aki
Translated by Benger Kei© Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 2023

Green Cosmos
The long title conveys the autobiographical elements of thiswork. From fireflies, to people, and nebulae, as both minute andmammoth entities are born together and drift through the air,the infant Yokoo, protected by his parents, is seen on board asmall boat rowing away. A guardian spirit stands in the front,
while a mouse is in the back.
The painting could also be perceived as Yokoo’s distinct
narrative rendition of the theme “Where Do We Come From?
What Are We? Where Are We Going?” (Paul Gaugin).

Wandering Mind, 2002
Wandering Here and ThereThis is a work from the "Y-junction" series, which was featured
in Yokoo’s solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art
Tokyo in 2002.
Perhaps the light appears to be reflecting off the road due to it
being wet from the rain. The pedestrian crossings form similar
shapes on the ground and in the sky, while the curves of therailroad track and roads undulate through the image.
Amongst all this, the red streetlight in the foreground seems toextend out towards the viewer.

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