Wandering Mind 意志の彷徨

Tadanori Yokoo has been producing paintings since the 1960s along with his activities as one of the most important graphic designers in Japan. "Bride" was shown in his first solo exhibition of paintings at Nantenshi Galleiy in 1966. It is part of a series of pink female figures exuding a rough, vulgar energy. His paintings are remarkable for their uniquely anti-modernist style, emphasizing indigenous and popular qualities, and this characteristic is shared by his graphic design work. "Experimental Report" of 1996 depicts the world of the boy's adventure novels by such authors as EDOGAWA Ranpo that appeal to Yokoo. He juxtaposes a variety of motifs, from nudes to fighter planes, connecting them with a system of numbering like that seen in illustrated science books for young people.‘Y’ Junction series started in 2001 shows night views of branching roads. It has ths effect of arousing memories in the mind of each viewer of a place where a single road splits into two. One painting in this series, "Wandering mind", shows an image of the space under a railroad bridge, suggesting the sort of story found in old gangster movies. The spiral composition functions to pull the viewer into the picture. The styles and titles of Yokoo's paintings continue to change kaleidoscopically with the times, and the subject matter of his paintings extends to everything in the universe. He takes images from many different sources and joins them together like a collage on the pictorial surface. The stories in his paintings overlap with his own story. These paintings are completely opposed to the inward-oriented explorations of modernism. What is most fascinating about Yokoo's work is that he paints unknown stories "like pictures," revealing the primal energy of painting.