Keiichi Tanaami, the acclaimed Japanese pop artist whose maximalist compositions conflated high and low, East and West, died on August 9 due to a subarachnoid hemorrhage. He was 88.
Working across painting, animation, sculpture and installation, Tanaami is regarded as one of the most influential Japanese artists following the postwar period. His erotic, surreal and sometimes disorienting artworks conflated Western pop cultural references, such as American warplanes, Coca-Cola bottles and the mass produced pastiche of pop art, with traditional Japanese art forms and motifs, from kimonos and supernatural creatures to ukiyo-e woodblock prints.
Andy Warhol and Tanaami had great respect for one another. After a visit to New York in 1967, the Japanese artist recalled: “Like Warhol, I decided not to limit myself to one medium, to fine art or design only, but instead to explore many different methods.” From that point on, Tanaami explored film, installation and sculpture, conflating Western iconography and its effects on foreign nations, as a commentary on cultural hybridization.
Working well into old age, Tanaami was represented by Tokyo gallery NANZUKA, who’d shown several of the artist’s latest solo exhibitions, such as his homage to Pablo Picasso and a recent collaborative project with adidas. The gallery’s founder, Shinji Nanzuka said in a statement: “I am sure that Tanaami’s soul will continue to live forever in this paradise that he himself has built, enjoying his time with his wife, friends, and all the strange yet marvelous creatures and monsters that inhabit it.”
Outside the studio, Tanaami was also a professor at Kyoto University of the Arts from 1991 to 2013. He mentored a number of notable artists, including Takashi Murakami, whose Superflat aesthetic equally incorporates vivid colors, maximalist patterns, and a conflation of Eastern and Western iconography. NANZUKA is posthumously exhibiting Keiichi Tanaami: Adventures in Memory at The National Art Center, Tokyo until November 11, 2024.
The National Art Center
Japan, 〒106-8558 Tokyo,
Minato City, Roppongi, 7 Chome−22−2 国立新美術館