As I was researching for inspiration, I stumbled upon a Japanese poster design on the internet. This poster reflects the country’s visual culture and printmaking tradition that was used throughout the 20th century. It was like a presentation to the country’s culture to manifest to international audiences. This poster was highly controversial due to their visual characteristics as well as many major events that occurred in Japan, such as World War II and the rapid industrialization that transformed Japan into a very successful society, and they drew the attention of audiences by impressing them with their unique poster designs relating to these events. The poster is called “The Wonders of life and Earth” byTadanari Yokoo. This poster was one of Yokoo’s earliest posters and it was created to promote a book by Isamu Kurita. He combines Japanese manga and American pop art styles with a modern superhero aesthetic. The author of the book describes the art style as “sensitive”. I was impressed by how the artist uses political and artistic views in his artwork. I like how he uses the elements of design such as demonstrating vivid colors and strong contour lines including the design of the text which he incorporates with the aesthetic of the poster to make it seem dramatic and futuristic.
Wow, these are new to me — I admire them so much! Thank you!
The first reference reminds me of 1970s American Pop culture posters — Pop Art and counter-culture publications.
The second reference connects to traditional Japanese woodblock prints, which were mass “pop” media of an earlier era.