This is an original Japanese silk screen poster printed in the 1996. 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. This print is in extremely good condition.
This exact poster is currently displayed in M+ in Hong Kong.
https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/collection/objects/cat-in-japan-2016196/
Japan Poster Shop has acquired a substantial and unique collection of original Tadanori Yokoo posters from one of the most prolific collectors in Japan. This individual has a very colorful life story, having invested and dedicated many decades to his love for Tadanori Yokoo`s vibrant designs.
This poster was created for the Association for Manekineko Japan, a club founded in 1993 in Gunma Prefecture to celebrate the iconic maneki neko, or "beckoning cat." With legends dating back to the Edo period, the maneki neko is Japan’s most recognized symbol of good fortune. In the design, three maneki neko are placed at the center, set against the backdrop of a rising sun—another powerful, complex symbol frequently found in Yokoo Tadanori’s work. The cat’s connection to faith is further emphasized by Shinto elements, such as the torii gate and the prayers for good health and peace inscribed on the pillars. Yokoo blends traditional religious symbols with popular beliefs, using his distinctively irreverent graphic style to comment on the reinterpretation of cultural heritage in contemporary Japan.
In today's world, when advanced reproduction techniques and printing methods have been developed, silkscreen printing can be said to be an extremely primitive and imperfect printing method. However, it is precisely because of this primitive imperfection that silkscreen printing has been highly developed.
It is a medium that retains a handcrafted, intimate feel like woodblock prints or lithographs, not found in offset or primary color printing, which are more common printing methods. Such handcrafted printing methods are themselves subcultural, and are therefore suitable as a means of printing posters for subcultural groups, in the sense that the medium is the message.
The fact that Yokoo Tadanori's zine-like posters were quickly recognized as artistic was of course due to the content of the images, but it is also true that the silkscreen, which is in a sense an artistic medium, contributed to his success. Yokoo's aims of artistry, agitation for popular culture, and subcultural zine-like communication were fully realized by choosing the medium of silkscreen.
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.