Keiichi Tanaami

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Keiichi Tanaami ( Japanese 田 名 網 敬 一 ; Tanaami Keiichi ; * 1936 in Tokyo Prefecture ) is one of the most influential Japanese artists . His work was and is crucial for the development of Japanese Pop Art . Tanaami is regarded as the pioneer and intellectual foster father of a number of Japanese art greats, such as Takashi Murakami and Tabaimo .

biography

Tanaami studied graphic design at the Musashino Art School and never completed a degree in fine arts, yet he moves effortlessly in different media and formal languages. Within a very short time he became known nationally and internationally as a successful illustrator and graphic designer.

During World War II, Tanaami experienced the US air raids on Tokyo at the age of 9 (1945). Fighter planes, skulls and rockets are motifs that, due to the traumatic experiences, appear repeatedly in his later work.

In 1969 Tanaami first visited the United States, where he met Andy Warhol , among others . His artistic engagement with the American consumer society and its excesses should have a lasting impact on Tanaami's work. In 1975, Keiichi Tanaami became the Japanese playboy's first art director . In the course of this his artistic work became more provocative and experimental.

At the age of 45 (1981), another stroke of fate was a serious illness that forced him to stay in hospital for four months, which had a major impact on his work. Under the strong influence of medication, he said he hallucinated there every night and was unable to distinguish between reality and illusion. "Dreams and reality are mixed up in my memories and stored in my head in this ambiguous state." (Keiichi Tanaami, interview with Galerie Gebrüder Lehmann)

Keiichi Tanaami has been teaching at the Kyoto University of Art and Design since 1991 , where he is currently head of the Information Design Chair.

He lives and works in Tokyo.

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Themes and motifs

Keiichi Tanaami works in different media: starting with graphics and drawings , he created several collages and video works , especially in the 1960s - 1970s , which were followed by painterly works and sculpture . His artistic style is characterized by bright colors, dense juxtapositions and superimpositions of different motifs and pictures that appear psychedelic.

As a child, Tanaami experienced the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima - these traumatic impressions will accompany him and his artistic work throughout his life. After graduating, Tanaami found himself in the midst of rapid social and cultural developments, to which he wanted to react with his art. He approached the Neo-Dada circle and worked with Ushio Shinara, the leader of the Japanese Neo-Dada movement, as well as Robert Rauschenberg and Michel Tapié when they visited Japan. The art of the absurd became a means of expressing the futility of war and protest against violence.

The main characteristic of this time was the growing mass consumption . Tanaami got to know these processes well during his stay in the USA, and they quickly became superficial motifs in his works. Andy Warhol's art played an important role for him - it not only influenced the Japanese artist thematically and aesthetically, but also prompted him to combine commissioned graphics and free art, i.e. to devote himself artistically to several techniques and media and not to himself limited to graphics only.

Fascinated by the medium of film , Tanaami immersed himself in the magical world of cinema as a teenager. Later on, film aesthetics became an important part of his work. The artist also shows a great interest in music culture . The design of various record sleeves by globally successful bands such as The Monkees or Jefferson Airplane soon helped Tanaami gain international recognition.

Last but not least, the proclamation of sexual freedom , which after America gradually reached the shores of Japan, played an important role in Tanaami's work. Explicit erotic scenes from Japanese woodcuts mix in his work with images of Hollywood beauties.

Features of style

Keiichi Tanaami has developed a special imagery that kaleidoscopically interconnects Western Pop Art with Eastern traditional art motifs . This creates a universe, the psychedelic nightmares, Japanese paper theater [Kamishibai], “the USA, Japan, the excesses, the tradition, the counterculture, the comics, manga, the women, the nightmares of war, the reproducibility of art, the abysses and shallows of the paradis artificiel ”. (Stefano Stoll: Keiichi Tanaami's drawings. Artist's confessions)

“The art of Tanaami is hallucinogenic. At the same time it sings of what was and what can never become. It challenges the entirety of the sensorium and throws the viewer off balance. Certain things become fragile. Both floors and walls sway. The geometry loses its shape. The objects are like on the move. Motifs no longer offer measurable reference points, while dimensions and perspective are misleading. Lines flee. But there is a mystery inherent in these intoxicating states. As if they were trying to release a consciousness of the divine. "

- Stefano Stoll : Keiichi Tanaami. One artist, multiple arts

Solo exhibitions (selection)

  • 2019 Keiichi Tanaami , Kunstmuseum Luzern in cooperation with the Fumetto Comic Festival Luzern, Luzern
  • 2018 Keiichi Tanaami , Guangzhou K11, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
  • 2018 Dream of Human Metamorphosis , Gallery Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden
  • 2018 Perfect Cherry Blossom , Nanzuka, Tokyo
  • 2013: Keiichi Tanaami. Karma International, Zurich
  • 2013: Killer Joe's, Part 2. NANZUKA, Tokyo
  • 2013: Keiichi Tanaami. Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin
  • 2012: Drawn Films. 1971-2009. Gallery Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden
  • 2012: NO MORE WAR. STUDIOLO, Zurich
  • 2011: Drawings and Collages 1967-1975. Gallery Gebr. Lehmann, Berlin
  • 2011: Dividing Bridge. Nanzuka Underground, Tokyo
  • 2010: Wander in The Chaos World - Keiichi Tanaami's Fantastic World -. The OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shennan, China
  • 2009: Spiral 2nd Gallery Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden
  • 2009: Kannooon. Nanzuka Underground Gallery, Tokyo
  • 2008: Spiral. Gallery Gebr. Lehmann, Berlin
  • 2008: Colorful. Nanzuka Underground Gallery, Tokyo
  • 2008: DAYTRIPPER. Art & Public - Cabinet PH, Geneva
  • 2007: DAYDREAM. NANZUKA UNDERGROUND, Tokyo
  • 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
  • 2005: Films of Keiichi Tanaami and Graphic 100. the Norwegian International Film Festival, Norway
  • 2005 Solo Exhibition, Transplant Gallery, New York
  • 2004: Keiichi Tanaami - Ascension Furniture. Graf media gm, Osaka
  • 2004: DISCO UNIVERSITY with Naohiro Ukawa, KPO Kirin Plaza Osaka, Japan
  • 2004: Keiichi Tanaami _ Big Playground City. IDEA, Kyoto
  • 2003: Collage of FLOWERS by Keiichi Tanaami. Art Space Eumeria, Tokyo
  • 2003: Keiichi Tanaami-GET BACK. Gallery 360 °, Tokyo
  • 2002: Keiichi Tanaami 3000 Drawings. Gallery 360 °, Tokyo
  • 2002: Keiichi Tanaami-Goldfish Lurking in a Glorious View. Graf media gm, Osaka
  • 2001: Goldfish Exhibition by Keiichi Tanaami. Tokyo International Forum ・ Exhibition space, Tokyo
  • 2000: Keiichi Tanaami Graphic Works in the 60's. Gallery 360 °, Tokyo
  • 1998: Variation by Dry-Point. Gallery Vivant, Tokyo
  • 1996: Keiichi Tannami-100 prints. Chukyo University C-Square, Nagoya
  • 1995: Keiichi Tanaami Print Exhibition-Resembling. Gallery Vivant, Tokyo
  • 1994: Keiichi Tanaami's film Image of Memory. AV Hall, Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa
  • 1994: Keiichi Tanaami-Works of Print 1967-1994. Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa
  • 1992: The World of Keiichi Tanaami. Ikeda 20th Century Museum, Shizuoka
  • 1991: SPIRAL FOREST-2. Nogizaka Art Hall, Tokyo
  • 1990: LAW OF THE FOREST. Seibu Hall, Shiga
  • 1989: New Works of Keiichi Tanaami - LAW OF THE FOREST. Shibuya Seibu Seed Hall, Tokyo
  • 1987: Keiichi Tanaami. Annecy Chateau Museum, France
  • 1986: The World of Keiichi Tanaami - PASSAGE IN THE AIR. Shibuya Seibu Seed Hall, Tokyo

Web links

literature

  • Stefano Stoll: Keiichi Tanaami. One artist, multiple arts . In: Galerie Gebr. Lehmann Dresden / Berlin (ed.): Keiichi Tanaami. Drawings and collages 1967–1975 . Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86335-116-8 .
  • Stefano Stoll: The drawings of Keiichi Tanaami. Artist confessions . In: Galerie Gebr. Lehmann Dresden / Berlin (ed.): Keiichi Tanaami. Drawings and collages 1967–1975 . Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86335-116-8 .
  • Nanzuka Underground Tokyo (Ed.): Daydream . Tokyo 2007, ISBN 978-4-7661-1852-0 .
  • Nanzuka Underground Tokyo (Ed.): Kochute . Tokyo 2009.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Nadine Meier: As in the book of hidden objects . In collaboration with Fumetto, the art museum is showing Keiichi Tanaami's first solo exhibition in Switzerland. Ed .: Luzerner Zeitung. Lucerne April 12, 2019.
  2. ↑ Stefano Stoll The drawings of Keiichi Tanaami. Artist confessions
  3. ↑ Lucerne Art Museum
  4. ↑ Gallery Gebr. Lehmann
personal data
SURNAME Tanaami, Keiichi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 田 名 網 敬 一 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese pop art artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Tokyo prefecture