"TADANORI YOKOO - OKERA", Japanese Contemporary Art Poster, Original Limited Edition Silk Screen 1997, Ultra Rare, Size (c.73 x 103cm)

This poster is ultra rare and is displayed in the world`s most prestigious galleries such as MoMA in New York City. It is very difficult / almost impossible to find in any condition. 

Original Silkscreen Print on Paper, B1 Size (103 × 73 cm | 40.6 × 28.7 in)
As held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/6102

This is an original 1997 silkscreen print by legendary Japanese graphic designer Tadanori Yokoo, created for the satirical Japanese society group Okera Kai. Titled simply OKERA, this artwork is a high-concept pastiche of mahjong tiles, media satire, and political parody—delivered in Yokoo’s unmistakably wild visual language.

A centerpiece of Yokoo’s late-90s output, OKERA is a dizzying tapestry of hyper-saturated color, absurd collage, and layered cultural reference. The word “OKERA” beams from the top in surrealist 3D typography, ensnared by spider webs. Pink beams shoot downward like tracking lasers from a celestial surveillance system, intersecting heads, symbols, and scattered text. At the center stands a rotund, caricatured figure whose body is formed from a grotesque cluster of photographed heads—clearly public figures, mocked with scribbled insults and iconography. Around him, floating heads dangle from spider threads, and an eroticized cartoon pin-up presides over a surreal Kyoto-inspired dreamscape with shrines, towers, and sunset skies.

The border is styled as a mahjong board, wrapping the entire composition in a symbolically loaded frame of Japanese gaming culture, hierarchy, and chance—invoking both structured systems and the chaos that governs them. Golden embossing adds visual richness, underscoring the surreal decadence.

Included in the MoMA permanent collection, this piece reflects Yokoo’s satirical spirit and psychedelic sensibility, showcasing his blend of postwar politics, consumer critique, and avant-garde theater.

Silkscreen printing—like Yokoo’s poster here—is labor-intensive and tactile, with natural imperfections and texture that digital and offset methods lack. The print carries the raw physicality of a woodblock or lithograph, giving it authenticity as an object of art and message. As Yokoo’s preferred medium, it reinforces the anarchic, handcrafted quality that links his work to both high design and underground subcultures.

This print comes from an exceptional private collection in Japan, amassed over decades by a devoted Yokoo enthusiast. OKERA is one of the most irreverent and culturally sharp of Yokoo’s 1990s works, rarely seen outside institutional collections and virtually never available in this condition. Near mint, unbacked, and beautifully preserved. A cornerstone piece for any serious collector of Japanese postwar art and graphic design.

Please refer to the imagery (both front and back) as this is the exact poster that is for sale. 

It is over 28 years old!

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.