Keiichi Tanaami (21 July 1936 – 9 August 2024) was a Japanese pop artist who was active as multi-genre artist from the 1960s as a graphic designer, illustrator, video artist and fine artist.
Early life and career Keiichi Tanaami was born in Tokyo on 21 July 1936, as the eldest son of a textile wholesaler. He was 9 years old when Tokyo was bombed during the Great Tokyo Air Raid of World War II in 1945. Images seared into the back of his mind at this time would become major motifs in his art works: roaring American bombers, searchlights scanning the skies, firebombs dropped from planes, the city a sea of fire, fleeing masses, and his father's deformed goldfish swimming in its tank, flashes from the bombs reflecting in the water.
"I was rushed away from my childhood, a time that should be filled with eating and playing, by the enigmatic monstrosity of war; my dreams were a vortex of fear and anxiety, anger and resignation. On the night of the air raid, I remember watching swarms of people flee from bald mountaintops. But then something occurs to me: was that moment real? Dream and reality are all mixed up in my memories, recorded permanently in this ambiguous way."
Tanaami took to drawing from a young age, and as a junior high school student he often spent time at the studio of leading postwar cartoonist Kazushi Hara with the intention of becoming a cartoonist himself. After Hara's sudden death, however, he turned to the pioneering field within manga of graphic novels, and went on to study to become a professional artist at Musashino Art University. Word of his talent spread quickly during his time there and in 1958, as a second year student, he was awarded the Special Selection at an exhibition held by the authoritative illustration and design group of the time. After graduating he took a job with an advertising agency, but quit before one year was up due to the numerous private commissions he was receiving. During the '60s he busied himself as a successful illustrator and graphic designer while also actively participating in the Neo-Dada organization, one of the defining art movements of postwar Japan. In the latter half of the '60s he immersed himself in making video art, the newest medium in the art scene at the time.
"In the 1960s, the Sogetsu Art Center in Akasaka regularly held events that traversed many diverse genres. There were happenings staged by Yoko Ono, videos by Nam June Paik and experimental films from America. It was around that time that I heard about the [Sogetsu] Animation Festival (1965). I wanted so badly to make an animation, so I convinced Yōji Kuri's Experimental Animation Studio to help me create 'Marionettes in Masks' (35 mm, 8 minutes). I continued to make animations after that, with works such as 'Good-by Marilyn' (1971), 'Good-by Elvis and USA' (1971), 'Crayon Angel' (1975) and 'Sweet Friday' (1975)." In 1967, Tanaami took his first trip to New York City. There he came face to face with the works of Andy Warhol, shining brightly amidst the whirlwind of prospering American consumerism, and Tanaami was struck by the new possibilities of art within the world of design.
"Warhol was in the process of shifting from commercial illustrator to artist, and I both witnessed and experienced firsthand his tactics, his method of incision into the art world. His strategies were identical to the strategies employed by advertising agencies. He used contemporary icons as motifs in his works and for his other activities put together media such as films, newspapers and rock bands. In other words, Warhol's sole existence was selling his works to the art market. I was shocked by this, and at the same time I embraced him as the perfect role model for myself. Like Warhol, I decided not to limit myself to one medium, to fine art or design only, but instead to explore many different methods."
At the height of psychedelic culture and pop art, Tanaami's kitschy, colorful illustrations and design work received high acclaim in both Japan and abroad. "NO MORE WAR", his prize-winning piece from the 1968 antiwar poster contest organized by AVANT-GARDE Magazine, in addition to his album cover art for legendary bands The Monkees and Jefferson Airplane and other such works left a major footprint on the path to introducing psychedelic and pop art to Japan. Furthermore, his series of erotic paintings featuring Hollywood actresses done in the early '70s became an important body of work that declared Tanaami as the Japanese artist with a witty eye on American culture.
In 1975, Tanaami became the first art director of the Japanese edition of Playboy, Monthly Playboy, and went to New York once again to visit Playboy'''s head office. The editor there took him to Andy Warhol's Factory. Tanaami's works from this period, mostly in the mediums of film and print, were provocative and experimental. His films in particular received wide critical acclaim, appearing in the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in Germany (1975, 1976), the New York Film Festival (1976), and the Ottawa International Animation Festival in Canada (1976). The vanguard nature of his work led the police to shut down his 1976 exhibit Super Orange of Love at Nishimura Gallery for inspection on the opening day.
In 1981, at the age of 45, he suffered a pulmonary edema and for a time hovered at the edge of life and death. Throughout the '80s and '90s, Tanaami created many works centered around the theme of Life and Death based on the experience. For example, the pine tree form that appears frequently in Tanaami's works comes from a hallucination he experienced during his illness. Similarly, the cranes, elephants and naked women that appear along with spirals and miniature garden-like architectural forms are characteristic of his works from this period.
In 1999, a retrospective of Tanaami's works from the '60s was held at Gallery 360° in Tokyo. The exhibit was praised highly by Yamataka Eye (Boredoms) and KAWS, cultural leaders of the new generation born after the '60s, and as a result, Tanaami's works once again became popular amongst youth culture. Since 2005, Tanaami has been presenting new works that fall in the realm of fine art. In these works, he continues to manifest images from his personal memories and from his dream world—personified goldfish, deformed characters, rays of light, helical pine trees, fantastical architecture, young girls—through the various mediums of painting, sculpture, film and furniture.
Tanaami worked as a professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design since 1991, where he helped bring up young new artists such as Tabaimo.
Recent exhibits include Day Tripper at Art & Public in Geneva (2007), SPIRAL at Galerie Gebr. Lehmann in Berlin (2008), Kochuten at NANZUKA UNDERGROUND (2009), Still in Dream at Frieze Art Fair (2010) and No More War at Art 42 Basel (2011), works such The Catalogue of Eccentricity series 33, 52, 66 and 78 are include at Protection No Longer Assured (2023) exhibition at Colección Solo museum in Madrid and The Last Supper (2015) is part of Colección SOLO's museum permanent exhibition.{Ihousephilly.org
In 2022, Venus Over Manhattan in partnership with NANZUKA, Tokyo, announced the representation of Tokyo-based artist Keiichi Tanaami in their debut solo exhibition with him, titled "Manhattan Universe." The exhibition featured Tanaami's latest monumental paintings, pieces from the "Pleasure of Picasso" series, and the video work "Red Shadow."
Illness and death In late June 2024, Tanaami was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, but remained hopeful about his recovery.
Before the diagnosis, Tanaami had been preparing for a large-scale retrospective exhibition of his work, Keiichi Tanaami: Adventures in Memory'' held at The National Art Center, which opened on 8 August.
In late July before the opening of his exhibition, Tanaami suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage from which he was unable to recover. He died on 9 August, at the age of 88.
Solo exhibitions 1958 "Metallic Art for Open-air Murals", Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo 1959 "Formative Art of Light by Metallic Art", Ginza Sato Gallery, Tokyo 1965 "Keiichi Tanaami - SERIES ORDER MADE", Tsubaki Kindai Gallery, Tokyo 1970 "Commercial Graphic", Gallery Melton, Canada 1971 "Keiichi Tanaami - CELLULOID BORN IN AMERICA", Gallery Décor, Tokyo 1971 "Cinema Demonstration", Sogetsu Hall, Tokyo 1972 "Films by Keiichi Tanaami", Tenjo-Sajiki-kan, Tokyo 1972 "Clockwork Marilyn", Gallery Décor, Tokyo 1974 "SUPER ORANGE OF LOVE SERIES", Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo 1976 "YOUSHIKEI (Infantile Landscape)", Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo 1977 "BOENKYO (The Mirror of Forgetting Childhood)" Serigraphy, Ao Gallery, Tokyo 1979 "ANOTHER PARADISE OF ARTIFICE SERIES", Ao Gallery, Tokyo 1980 "GIKEIZUKAN (The Illustrated Book of Artificial View) SERIES", Gallery Vivant, Tokyo 1984 "BURNING IN THE EVENING SERIES", Gallery Vivant, Tokyo 1985 "HYAKKA RYORAN (Bright With All Sorts of Flowers) – Keiichi Tanaami 60's Poster Exhibition", Gallery 360°, Tokyo 1986 "THE HOLLYWOOD STARDUST", Gallery 360°, Yurakucho Seibu Marion, Tokyo 1986 "The World of Keiichi Tanaami - PASSAGE IN THE AIR", Shibuya Seibu Seed Hall, Tokyo 1987 "Keiichi Tanaami", Annecy Chateau Museum, France 1987 "THE HOUSE IN ACSENTION", Plus Minus Gallery, Tokyo 1989 "New Works of Keiichi Tanaami - LAW OF THE FOREST", Shibuya Seibu Seed Hall, Tokyo 1990 "LAW OF THE FOREST", Seibu Hall, Shiga 1991 "SPIRAL FOREST-2", Nogizaka Art Hall, Tokyo 1991 "Keiichi Tanaami Print Exhibition - CELEBLATION OF THE FOREST", Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo 1992 "The World of Keiichi Tanaami", Ikeda 20th Century Museum, Shizuoka 1994 "Keiichi Tanaami-Works of Print 1967-1994", Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa 1994 "Keiichi Tanaami's Film-Image of Memory", AV Hall, Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa 1995 "Keiichi Tanaami Print Exhibition-Resembling", Gallery Vivant, Tokyo 1995 "Keiichi Tanaami Print Exhibition-Travel for Memories", Bokushin Gallery, Tokyo 1996 "Keiichi Tannami-100 Prints", Chukyo University C-Square, Nagoya 1998 "Variation by Dry-Point", Gallery Vivant, Tokyo 2000 "Keiichi Tanaami Graphic Works in the 60's", Gallery 360°, Tokyo 2001 "Keiichi Tanaami BLOW UP Launch Exhibition", Gallery 360°, Tokyo 2001 "Goldfish Exhibition by Keiichi Tanaami", Tokyo International Forum・Exhibition space, Tokyo 2002 "Tactile Sensibility of the Age-Keiichi Tanaami Graphic Works 1967-2002", D's Gallery, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Kyoto 2002 "Keiichi Tanaami 3000 Drawings", Gallery 360°, Tokyo 2002 "Keiichi Tanaami-Goldfish Lurking in a Glorious View", graf media gm, Osaka 2002 "Keiichi Tanaami-Legends of Volupte 1971-2002", Uplink Factory, Tokyo 2003 "Collage of FLOWERS by Keiichi Tanaami", Art Space Eumeria, Tokyo 2003 "Keiichi Tanaami-GET BACK", Gallery 360°, Tokyo 2004 "DISCO UNIVERSITY with Naohiro Ukawa", KPO Kirin Plaza Osaka, Japan 2004 "TANAAMI'S BEAUTY PARADE", Naruyama Gallery, Tokyo 2004 "Keiichi Tanaami – Ascension Furniture", graf media gm, Osaka 2004 "Keiichi Tanaami - Ascension Furniture + Fantastic City", EX'REALM, Tokyo 2004 "Keiichi Tanaami – Big Playground City", IDEE, Kyoto 2005 Solo Exhibition, Transplant Gallery, New York 2005 "Films of Keiichi Tanaami and Graphic 100", the Norwegian International Film Festival, Norway 2006 "TANAAMISM", Ginza Graphic Gallery, Tokyo 2006 "Layers of Keiichi Tanaami", Gallery AUBE, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Kyoto 2006 "Keiichi Tanaami – KAMON", Paul Smith 9 Albemarls Street Shop, London 2007 "DAYDREAM", NANZUKA UNDERGROUND, Tokyo 2008 "Spiral", Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, Berlin 2008 "COLORFUL", NANZUKA UNDERGROUND, Tokyo 2008 "DAYTRIPPER", Art & Public –Cabinet PH, Geneva 2009 "Kochuten", NANZUKA UNDERGROUND 2009 "SPIRAL 2", Galerie Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden /Berlin 2009 "KANNOOON", NANZUKA UNDERGROUND 2010 "Wander in The Chaos World - Keiichi Tanaami's Fantastic World - ", The OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shennan, China