In July and August 2019, ginza graphic gallery (ggg) will host “Keichi Tanaami Great Journey.” The exhibition is an opportunity to see what this leading artist, whose career stretches back more than half a century to the 1960s, is doing at the height of his career.
 
Tanaami’s work, in a wide range of genres such as design, illustration, animation, experimental film, three-dimensional work, and painting, gives us a faithful depiction of his versatility. The esteem in which he is held by artists, designers, musicians and fashion designers from around the world is in line with the weight of his boundary-crossing, multidisciplinary career.
 
In recent years, Tanaami has been concentrating on creating mandalas of his own 80-year history, drawn from his own memories and dreams. At first glance these recent works may seem like bizarre pop-phantom images, but everything depicted stems from memories of his own experiences.
 
Images of American bombers borrowed from American comics and their illuminated anthropomorphized bombs, together with the menacing, squirming chickens and goldfish, are deeply related to Tanaami’s childhood memories of the war. Numerous borrowings from works by the artists most dear to Tanaami, science fiction magazines, and manga characters can be found in his artwork. These borrowings highlight both Tanaami’s affinity to pop-art, and his natural tendency to use his works to turn his memories into something positive.
The exhibition will feature approximately 22 new prints, animation clips, three-dimensional works, collaborations with fashion brands, publications, various products, and more. Nearly a year has passed since producing “Keiichi Tanaami Dialogue” at kyoto ddd gallery in August 2018. During that period, the artist has continued to amaze, his works still gaining strength as time goes by.