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Keiichi Tanaami "Colorful"
Nanzuka Underground
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Artists
Keiichi Tanaami
Nanzuka Underground is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Keiichi Tanaami (1936-). This exhibition focuses particularly on Tanaami's early painting and sculpture works which had a profound influence on his later paintings, drawings, videos and silkscreen prints during the 60s and early 70s.
Keiichi Tanaami started his career as an artist in the 1960s. Throughout the 60s and 70s, he was a central figure of the avant-garde art movement in postwar Japan. He acted with Neo Dada, a central focus of Japanese anti-art movements, established a close rapport with Robert Rauschenberg and Michel Tapié, and also worked with Andy Warhol. Tanaami has been highly regarded by critics ever since as a standard bearer of the counterculture movement which rippled throughout society and promoted dialogue during the Vietnam War, the revision of the Japan-US Security Treaty, the Great Cultural Revolution, and the oil crisis.
His representative works from the period include the “No More War” series, a prize-winning silkscreen print entered in the "Pacifist Poster Contest" sponsored by Avant-Garde magazine in 1968, and album covers for legendary bands such as The Monkees and Jefferson Airplane, all of which left a significant imprint on Pop Art and psychedelic culture imported into Japan. Tanaami also focused on making art books early on in his career, devoting his energy to publishing titles like “Tamago-gata (Egg Shape)” (1963), "A Portrait of Keiichi Tanaami" (1966), and “Kyozo Mirai Zukan (Illustrated Book of Imaginary Tomorrow)” (1969). These works represent Tanaami's keen awareness of the possibilities of Pop Art, toying with the rules of advertising imagery, and experimenting with and applying techniques like polychrome printing and image sampling with the concept of replication in his art since the mid 1960s.
Taking a cue from Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas around the same time, Tanaami also poured his efforts into making experimental movies and animations. These works have been invited to participate in many international film festivals and film exhibitions in the past, including the New York Film Festival (1976), "Japanese Experimental Cinema” (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1978), and the London International Avant-Garde Film Festival (UK, 1979, 2003).
His recent activities include a collaboration for Paris Fashion Week with Indian fashion designer Manish Arora, a feature spread in the Norwegian art magazine Hotrod, and solo exhibitions at prominent galleries in Europe, such as Art&Public (Geneva) and Galerie Gebr.Lehmann (Berlin).
Keiichi Tanaami started his career as an artist in the 1960s. Throughout the 60s and 70s, he was a central figure of the avant-garde art movement in postwar Japan. He acted with Neo Dada, a central focus of Japanese anti-art movements, established a close rapport with Robert Rauschenberg and Michel Tapié, and also worked with Andy Warhol. Tanaami has been highly regarded by critics ever since as a standard bearer of the counterculture movement which rippled throughout society and promoted dialogue during the Vietnam War, the revision of the Japan-US Security Treaty, the Great Cultural Revolution, and the oil crisis.
His representative works from the period include the “No More War” series, a prize-winning silkscreen print entered in the "Pacifist Poster Contest" sponsored by Avant-Garde magazine in 1968, and album covers for legendary bands such as The Monkees and Jefferson Airplane, all of which left a significant imprint on Pop Art and psychedelic culture imported into Japan. Tanaami also focused on making art books early on in his career, devoting his energy to publishing titles like “Tamago-gata (Egg Shape)” (1963), "A Portrait of Keiichi Tanaami" (1966), and “Kyozo Mirai Zukan (Illustrated Book of Imaginary Tomorrow)” (1969). These works represent Tanaami's keen awareness of the possibilities of Pop Art, toying with the rules of advertising imagery, and experimenting with and applying techniques like polychrome printing and image sampling with the concept of replication in his art since the mid 1960s.
Taking a cue from Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas around the same time, Tanaami also poured his efforts into making experimental movies and animations. These works have been invited to participate in many international film festivals and film exhibitions in the past, including the New York Film Festival (1976), "Japanese Experimental Cinema” (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1978), and the London International Avant-Garde Film Festival (UK, 1979, 2003).
His recent activities include a collaboration for Paris Fashion Week with Indian fashion designer Manish Arora, a feature spread in the Norwegian art magazine Hotrod, and solo exhibitions at prominent galleries in Europe, such as Art&Public (Geneva) and Galerie Gebr.Lehmann (Berlin).
Schedule | Nov 22 (Sat) 2008-Dec 28 (Sun) 2008 Opening Hours Information
Opening Reception Nov 21 (Fri) 2008 20:00 - 22:00 | ||||
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | http://nug.jp/exhi/2008/09/keiichi_tanaami_colorful_1960.html | ||||
| Venue | Nanzuka Underground http://www.nug.jp | ||||
| Location | 3-30-10 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001 | ||||
| Access | 8 minute walk from exit 5 at Meiji-jingumae Station on the Chiyoda and Fukutoshin lines, 10 minute walk from the Takeshita exit of Harajuku Station on the JR Yamanote line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-5422-3877 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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