Death and Dreams is the new solo exhibition of Tadanori Yokoo. Featuring the complete 1980 series Back of Head, the 2010 series Falling Woman, and the Mystery Woman series started in 2016, Death and Dreams examines the fascinating progression of the artist’s dialogue with portraiture, repetition, and appropriation of Japanese and Western popular culture over the course of four decades. On view from September 6 through October 13 at Albertz Benda 515 W 26th street New York
49 Years Later is the title of the solo exhibition of Japanese artist Tadanori Yokoo at Albertz Benda. The newly opened Chelsea gallery exhibits the artist’s never-before-seen paintings that focus on two major themes, the swimmer, an ongoing investigation of the artist, and the dancing couple, borrowed from old Hollywood. The artist builds on his early iconography; he started his investigation of the swimmers in 1966, and becomes a plagiarist of himself. The crossing figures reappear in different color pallets, with different backgrounds and in different themes, their mouths aggressively distorted in the action. The position of the swimmers can be seen as a natural predecessor to the dancing couple. Similarly to the swimmers the dancing couple gets further lost in abstraction with each painting. The swimmers faces melt into each other while the dancers are covered in different patterned blankets. 49 Years Later will be on view until December 19, 2015 at Albertz Benda Gallery, 515 W 26th St, New York, NY. photographs by Adriana Pauly
