Keiichi Tanaami

Keiichi Tanaami was born in Tokyo in 1936 and graduated from Musashino Art University. He has been active as a graphic designer, filmmaker, and artist since the 1960s, never heeding the boundaries of mediums or genres but instead aggressively traversing them through his work. The history and trajectory of his practice spanning well over half a century have garnered tremendous support from younger generation of artists around the world, as he is viewed as a new figure of the artist in the 21st century. Last year Tanaami presented his collaboration with adidas Originals “Adicolor x Tanaami.” His active creative activities were also introduced in the television program “Jonetsu Tairiku” aired last April, and gained much attention. In addition, with his works being on permanent exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art New York (MoMA) that celebrated its renewal opening last fall, he continues to receive one and only acclaim as an artist who represents postwar Japan. Tanaami’s recent solo exhibitions include, “No More War” (Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin, 2013) and “Killer Joe’s (1965 – 1975)” (Fondation Speerstra, Switzerland, 2013), with participation in numerous group exhibitions such as “Ausweitung der Kampfzone: Die Sammlung 1968 – 2000” (Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2013), the large-scale pop art retrospective “International Pop” (Walker Art Center, Dallas Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA, 2015-2016), “The World Goes Pop” (Tate Modern, London, 2015), and the two-person show “Oliver Payne and Keiichi Tanaami” (Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2017), “Keiichi Tanaami” (Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland, 2019), and “Tokyo Pop Underground” (Jeffery Deitch, NY & LA). Furthermore renowned museums around the world such as MoMa (USA), the Walker Art Center (USA), The Art Institute of Chicago (USA), M+ Museum for Visual Culture (Hong Kong), and the National Portrait Gallery (USA), Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof (Germany) in recent years have newly welcomed Tannami’s works to their collections.