Shigeo Fukuda

By LatAm ARTE

Fukuda Shigeo (Birth: February 4, 1932 – Death: January 11, 2009). He was a sculptor, graphic artist and poster designer who created optical illusions. His artworks often depict deception, such as Lunch With a Helmet On, a sculpture created entirely from forks, knives and spoons, which casts the detailed shadow of a motorcycle. Fukuda was born on February 4, 1932 in Tokyo into a family that was dedicated to making toys. After the end of World War II, he became interested in the minimalist style of Swiss graphic design and graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1956. The New York Times described how Fukuda's posters "distilled complex concepts into compelling images of logo simplicity." His commercial work included the creation of the official poster for the 1970 World's Fair in Osaka. A 1980 poster created for Amnesty International features a clenched fist woven together with barbed wire, with the letter "S" of the word "Amnesty" at the top of the poster formed by an attached shackle. "Victoria 1945", one of his best-known works, features a projectile aimed directly at the opening of a cannon barrel. A pair of posters created to celebrate Earth Day include a design showing the Earth as a seed opening against a solid navy blue background and "1982 Happy Earth Day," which shows an ax with its head against the ground and a small branch sprouting upward from its handle. In 1987, Fukuda was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in New York City, which described him as "Japan's consummate visual communicator", making him the first Japanese designer chosen for this recognition. The Art Directors Club noted the "scathingly satirical commentary on the folly of war" shown in "Victory 1945", which earned it the grand prize at the 1975 Warsaw Poster Competition, a competition whose proceeds went to the Fund Movement. for Peace. His house on the outskirts of Tokyo had a 1.2 m (4 ft) high front door that seemed very far away to someone approaching the house. This door was a visual trick, with the actual entrance to the house being an unadorned white door designed to blend seamlessly with the walls of the house. Fukuda died on January 11, 2009, after suffering a subarachnoid hemorrhage.