"TADANORI YOKOO - Paintings and Drawings for Poster", Japanese Contemporary Art Poster, Offset, Original Release 1986, B2 Size (51 x 73cm)

Original Offset Print on Paper, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm)
As issued for the Paintings and Drawings for Poster Exhibition, Nishiwaki City Okanoyama Museum of Art, 1986–1987

This is an original 1986 offset print by the iconic Japanese graphic artist Tadanori Yokoo, created for his exhibition Paintings and Drawings for Poster, held at the Nishiwaki City Okanoyama Museum of Art from December 1986 through June 1987. The poster captures a transitional moment in Yokoo’s career—bridging his graphic sensibility with his painterly pursuits.

Striking in its minimalism, the design features a stark, predominantly white background, punctuated only by a meticulously rendered, partial line drawing of a glamorous woman’s face—evocative of Marilyn Monroe. Her exaggerated smile, manicured hair, and alluring tilt are all rendered in dense black ink, evoking both glamour and satire. The composition is off-center, with handwritten production notes and printer’s guides still visible, intentionally preserved to underscore process as part of the artwork.

Typography is used sparingly but effectively. The exhibition title is presented in bold red and gold embossing—“TADANORI YOKOO / Paintings and Drawings for Poster”—punctuating the upper-left corner and contrasting with the restrained visual palette. The layout feels as much like a working proof as it does a finished poster, imbuing it with a sense of raw creative immediacy.

Unlike Yokoo’s busier, kaleidoscopic works, this poster adopts the language of editorial sketching—reminding viewers that behind every maximalist image lies a moment of precise, analog craftsmanship. The use of offset printing preserves these analog marks, aligning with Yokoo’s reverence for traditional production methods even as he pushed visual boundaries.

Produced in conjunction with the artist’s early retrospective at the Nishiwaki City Okanoyama Museum of Art—located in Yokoo’s hometown—this piece stands as a quiet yet conceptually powerful statement on authorship and process. It has become increasingly rare to find intact examples, particularly in unbacked condition.

A unique collectible from Yokoo’s mid-1980s period, this poster serves as a study in elegance, wit, and reflexive design—a vital addition for collectors of postwar Japanese graphic art and conceptual poster design.

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

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.