Keiichi Tanaami’s wild sculptures and mixed-media works currently inhabit Jeffrey Deitch’s New York location, as an extension of its “Tokyo Pop Underground” group show. The Hi-Fructose Vol. 38 cover artist is featured at the space until Nov. 2. We last mentioned Tanaami on our site here, in a story on his collaboration with artist Oliver Payne.
A collaboration between Keiichi Tanaami and Oliver Payne pairs mythology-inspired creatures and “bullet hell,” video-game inspired iconography. Tanaaami’s works are drawn, while “Payne had meticulously applied bullet hell stickers upon” them. The works are collected in the show “Perfect Cherry Blossom,” running at Tokyo’s Nanzuka through April 21. Tanaaami was featured on the cover of Hi-Fructose Vol. 38.
Japanese artist Keiichi Tanaami has been a force in contemporary art for several decades. His latest work offers yet another evolution for the Hi-Fructose Vol. 38 cover artist, with his electric, vibrant pieces. A new show at Nanzuka in Tokyo, titled “Amulet of the Tapir” collects these new paintings. The show kicked off in June and runs through Aug. 5.
It is in Keiichi Tanaami’s personality to take even the darkest of his life’s experiences and turn them into positive expressions. The Psychedelic Japanese artist’s sensational paintings of crazy characters engaged in the chaos of war has made him a leading art figure not just in Japan, but all over the world. We recently featured Tanaami’s intensely visual work in Hi-Fructose Vol. 38, where he shared with us the origins of his art, and the deep effect that his wartime experiences has had on his psyche. In this rare interview, Tanaami tells us more about his dark past and the myriad of international influences on his work to date.
Japanese pop artist Keiichi Tanaami (previously covered here) has a new exhibition on view at Tokyo’s underground gallery, Nanzuka. “Cherry Blossoms Falling in the Evening Gloom” is named after his show’s titular piece, an effort to take the darkest of his personal experiences and turn them into a positive image. The 3-meter painting leads into a transformation in the artist’s motifs, known for his glowing, grotesque creatures, which are shown emitting light.
Japanese Pop artist Keiichi Tanaami has rarely seen artwork now on view at New York contemporary art gallery Sikkema Jenkins & Co. When we covered his 2013 solo exhibition at Mizuma Gallery, his art went through a turning point. His fascination with life after a near-death experience inspired him to look to the future, rather than the past. The artwork in this show is not new- but Tanaami’s mixture of motifs from the past inspires modern questions that keeps his art relevant.