Legendary Japanese artist Tadanori Yokoo is still going strong at 87

TOKYO -- It is not easy being a cultural icon who is also a symbol for an entire generation of Japanese artists. In the case of Tadanori Yokoo, who was born in 1936 and resides and works in Tokyo, besides living up to a reputation for precocious creativity, this well-known Japanese modern artist finds himself at age 87 examining and evaluating his substantial legacy -- and it is a monumental task.

In recent years, this exercise has come into sharp focus in the form of several exhibitions and publications, including a 10th-anniversary show at the Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art in Kobe earlier this year. It looked back at previous exhibitions at this institution, which since its opening in 2012 has focused on Yokoo's multifaceted oeuvre. The artist's self-examination is also the focus of "Genkyo no Mori " ("Homeland Forest"), a fantasy-memoir published last year, in which Yokoo imagines himself in conversation with such legendary artists as Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso. Over the years, Yokoo has been a prolific author of essays, memoirs and travelogues, with autobiographical currents flowing through much of his writing.