Mitsu Okubo Tee Shirts Are Esoteric Art Humor

Mitsu Okubo Artist Tees

New York’s Printed Matter is a publisher of artist books (current and out of print) and related publications. Their online database of art publications is one of the largest and most comprehensive. Each year they hold the extremely popular and hip NY and LA Book Fairs at which they sell many zines, artist’s editions and interesting ephemera. And that’s where we spotted the Mitsu Okubo Artist Tees.

Mitsu Okubo Artist Tees

Printed Matter 2024 NY Book Fair
Printed Matter 2024 NY Book Fair

At the April 25-28th NY Book Fair, along with publications by San Francisco author and artist Mitsu Okubo, they were selling his hilarious artist tees.

Mitsu Obuko in his SF Basement studio
Mitsu Obuko in his SF Basement studio, wearing one of his tee-shirts

Gently mocking some of the world’s most renowned artists, the tee-shirts (and a few sweaters and hoodies) have simple puns of the artist’s names in non-descript type. Available for purchase at the fair, and online, they are just subtle and inside enough to be esoteric but appealing. Take a look.

cy sigh twombly tee
A play on Cy Twombly
Ellsworth Kelly tee
referencing Ellsworth Kelly
georgia okeefe mitsu okubo
a naughty take on Georgia O’Keefe
mitsu okubo artist tees
Frankly, this one should say Martin Kippenboozer
pablo picasshole tee
We all know who this is
robert rauschenberg tee
a twist on Robert Rauschenburg
john baldessari tee
mocking John Baldessari

$25 each, you can purchase them here