BEAMS America presents: Tadanori Yokoo and Daido Moriyama

Text by Aya Muto | Photography by Alexa Vitug

At the occasion of the ongoing BEAMS JAPAN POP-UP in Los Angeles, their walls lend a special showcase to two of Japan’s iconic visual masters, graphic artist Tadanori Yokoo and photographer Daido Moriyama. Yokoo’s original off-set print poster art representing his versed work in music, theater and advertising along with his painting art sets a vibrant tone, while Moriyama’s monochrome capture of raw and in motion street scenes strikes a strong complimentary contrast to what Japan as a fabric is woven from.

“It is an honor to work with these artists, through exhibitions and collaborations - they embody in a way the place that is Tokyo, a melting pot of creative energy attracting many aspiring artists that migrate to the city. TOKYO CULTUART by BEAMS has aimed to showcase such movements coming out of this city since its inception 17 years ago, and to this day, through exhibitions and projects, we see the community grow and also continue to nurture itself”

says the director Yoshiyuki Ogawa. He shared a delight that Yokoo expressed, when the scale of a rug made out of one of his characters was revealed; “In order to achieve the eye lash detail, the rug had to be bigger than we originally imagined, but he loved it.” Also at the POP-UP are pajamas featuring Yokoo’s imagery and wearable format of Moriyama’s photographs. The curiosity to engage by these artists is what the brand thrives to realize.

Born just two years apart in the ‘30s Japan, one can imagine the turmoil of the eras that tinted both of their informative years. WWII, post-war industrial revolution, Summer of Love, and the end of its euphoria. Yokoo and Moriyama’s palettes could not be more different, but their visual pursuit shares an appreciation of graphic design (Yokoo started his career as a graphic designer, and Moriyama also had a short stint in that world before embarking deeper into photography), and their international recognition followed a similar trajectory, reaching the conscience of many creative disciplines. Moriyama once talked about photographing New York with a recommendation from his friend Yokoo. The organic exchange was indeed part of their evolution.

Many of the Yokoo pieces that appear at the POP-UP have a clear reference to Japanese traditional woodblock printing “Ukiyoe,” but his appreciation of Dada-ism, post constructionism, and American Pop Art is all there too, creating a unique concoction of visual pleasure in the form of poster art. Also the blurred lines of fine and commercial art, especially notable in Japan, are represented here as well. Moriyama famously noted how half of his photography happens in the darkroom, and to be able to see the past that does not exist anymore, masterfully cropped into his signature grainy print is in itself a treat. And did you know that the iconic “Stray Dog” (originally untitled, shot for Japanese photography magazine Asahi Camera column, known as “Misawa no inu”) is a flipped image and vastly cropped, in order to achieve the best visual impact in the right-to-left flipping of Japanese magazine layout? The photographer still walks the streets of Shinjuku (part of Tokyo that Moriyama has a special affinity with since the 1960s, and also where the BEAMS JAPAN flagship store is) with a camera in hand.

There are so many layers to this cake that the best approach is to simply experience it in person.

Tadanori Yokoo

Born in 1936 in Nishiwaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, Yokoo began his creative career as a designer in Kobe after graduating high school. In1960, he moved to Tokyo, where he quickly rose to prominence as a graphic designer and illustrator showcasing his work in diverse fields of fashion, theater, literature and music.

A turning point came in 1980, when he encountered a major Picasso retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Deeply inspired, Yokoo began pursuing painting in earnest. Since then, he has created a vast body of work, employing a wide range of techniques and styles to explore universal themes (such as life and death). His paintings have earned him widespread international acclaim as one of Japan’s most influential contemporary artists.

Daido Moriyama

Born in Osaka in 1938, Moriyama began his career by assisting renowned photographers Takeji Iwamiya ad Eikoh Hosoe before becoming independent in 1964. His raw, high-contrast and grain-heavy aesthetics - often described as “are, bure, book (grainy, blurry and out of focus) - shocked the photography world and redefined the boundaries of the medium. He was also part of a photo book movement PROVOKE (only 3 volumes issued since its founding in 1968), that defined the lineage of unique Japanese photo book culture that continues to this day.

Moriyama has held solo exhibitions at major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Fondation Cartier in Paris. His work is celebrated globally, and in 2012, he became the first Japanese recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 28th Infinity Awards, hosted by the International Center of Photography (ICP) New York.

BEAMS America presents: Tadanori Yokoo and Daido Moriyama BEAMS America presents: Tadanori Yokoo and Daido Moriyama

Legendary Contemporaries of Japan

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