Exhibition Poster: Shigeo Fukuda at Keio Department Store

Optical Art, showing a repeating pattern of eight legs. The text at the bottom reads “Shigeo Fukuda: May 23 to 28 1975 Keio Department Store - 5F Art Gallery, Tokyo”.  An offset lithograph poster, likely commissioned and printed under the Keio Department Store’s cultural promotion division (which is noted for hosting art exhibitions during the 1970s). 

Using simple black-and-white shapes, Fukuda creates an optical illusion that can be seen as both raised arms and women’s legs in heels, showing his use of with perception and meaning. This use of figure-ground reversal turns a promotional image into a thought-provoking commentary on conformity and social identity. But this poster’s impact goes beyond just its visual appeal. It shows an important moment in graphic design history when designers began using simplicity and illusion to communicate complex, conceptual ideas. Fukuda’s work helped bridge Japanese and Western design traditions and showed very powerful messages in a simplistic form.