Internationally Acclaimed Artist Tadanori Yokoo Discusses Process and New Directions of Creativity

For Immediate Release

Tadanori Yokoo

Friday, September 12, 2008, 6:30 pm at Japan Society

New York, NY – Held in conjunction with his first New York solo exhibition at Friedman Benda Gallery, Japan Society presents the lecture Tadanori Yokoo by internationally acclaimed Japanese artist Tadanori Yokoo. In a dialogue moderated by independent curator Eric C. Shiner, Yokoo offers intimate insight into his inspirations and creative process. Tadanori Yokoo takes place Friday, September 12 at 6:30 pm and is followed by a reception.

Hailed in the late 1960s as one of the world's greatest graphic designers for his novel use of bright colors and imagery gleaned from popular culture, Tadanori Yokoo is also respected as a painter and installation artist who has had major retrospective shows at museums around Japan as well as many international venues, including MoMA and the Cartier Foundation in France. In this lecture, Yokoo shares with audiences his views of some of his most recent graphics, paintings and a large-scale installation to be presented at Friedman Benda Gallery.

About Tadanori Yokoo
Over the past 50 years, Tadanori Yokoo has played an integral role in both defining and giving structure to the realm of visual culture in post-war Japan. As the most respected graphic artist in Japan in the 1960s, Yokoo used imagery from popular culture and a bright and eclectic color palette to design posters and advertisements that were unique in their style and hard-hitting in their impact. Thanks to his innovations in graphic design, Yokoo was front and center in giving the rapidly growing economic engine of Japan a face; his peers in the avant-garde world of art soon took notice, and he began to collaborate with the most important names in the high arts, dance, literature and film worlds of the period. After transitioning from the graphic arts to the fine arts as his main focus in the 1970s, Yokoo has continued to produce important paintings, installations and other art works that seemingly archive the popular culture of Japan while standing as autobiographical documents of the artist and his life at the center of the Japan's contemporary floating world. Yokoo’s first New York solo exhibition Tadanori Yokoo (Sept 11 - Oct 18, 2008) is on view at Friedman Benda Gallery. Friedman Benda Gallery is located at 515 West 26th Street, NY, NY 10001. For more information, please visit www.friedmanbenda.com.

About Eric C. Shiner
Eric C. Shiner is a curator and art historian specializing in contemporary art. His scholarly focus is on the concept of bodily transformation in postwar Japanese photography, painting and performance art. Shiner was an assistant curator of the Yokohama Triennale 2001, Japan's first ever large-scale exhibition of international contemporary art, and the curator of Making a Home: Japanese Contemporary Artists in New York, part of Japan Society’s centennial celebration in 2007. He is an active writer and translator, a contributing editor for Art AsiaPacific magazine, and an adjunct professor of art history at Cooper Union, Pace University and Stony Brook University.

About Japan Society
Founded in 1907 by prominent New York City business people and philanthropists, Japan Society has evolved over 100 years into an internationally recognized nonprofit organization presenting a full range of programs within arts and culture, business, education, family, and public policy. Through over 100 events annually, the Society creates rich encounters and exchanges that offer opportunities to experience Japanese culture; foster sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia; and improve access to information on Japan.

Tickets and Information
Tadanori Yokoo takes place Friday, September 12, at 6:30pm. Tickets are $15/$12 Japan Society Members/$10 seniors & students. Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E and V at Lexington Avenue and 53rd St.) For reservations, call the box office at 212-715-1258. For further information call 212-832-1155 or visit www.japansociety.org.

Tadanori Yoko is supported by Friedman Benda Gallery.

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For further information, images and interview requests, please refer to:

Aya Akeura
Japan Society
T: 212-715-1292
F: (212) 715-1262
E: aakeura@japansociety.org

Kuniko Shiobara
Japan Society
T: 212-715-1249
F: (212) 715-1262
E: kshiobara@japansociety.org