The Hotel Chelsea is opening a restaurant this month inspired by the Japanese Swiss artist Teruko Yokoi (1924-2020), who lived in the hotel from 1958 to 1961. Yokoi’s paintings blend American Modern abstraction with traditional Japanese aesthetics. Alongside borrowing the painter’s name, the restaurant will feature eight works by Yokoi that the hotel recently acquired. “She produced some of her most important early works at the Hotel Chelsea,” says Tai Wallace, Yokoi’s grandson. “While turbulent at times in her personal relationships, it placed her at the epicentre of the second-wave Abstract Expressionist movement in New York.”
Yokoi is also the subject of a solo show at Hollis Taggart, Noh Theater (until 14 June). The exhibition features works from the late 1950s to the early 2000s that drew inspiration from the Japanese Noh theatre tradition. Performed since the 14th century, Noh often includes stylised masks to convey gestures. “As a cultural ambassador living abroad, Yokoi drew heavily from Japanese influences such as calligraphy, traditional music, the tea ceremony and, most importantly in the context of the exhibition’s theme and work, Noh to maintain
a connection to her heritage,” says Hollis Taggart’s Severin Delfs.
- Teruko Yokoi, Noh Theater, Hollis Taggart, 1 May–14 June 2025