ARTISTS
© Keiichi Tanaami, courtesy Nanzuka
KEIICHI TANAAMI
YOUSHI KEI (INFANTILE LANDSCAPE) (PROLOGUE)
1978
16mm film transferred to video, color, sound
11 min., 12 sec.
An icon of Japanese postwar Pop art and counterculture, Keiichi Tanaami (1936–2024) was known for his psychedelic paintings, illustrations, animated films, and graphic design. In 1978 he produced a series of moving image works in an attempt to recover his primal memories of growing up in war-era Japan. Youshi Kei (Infantile Landscape) (Prologue) integrates Tanaami’s childhood photographs and other images into montages of clips from Hollywood movies, wartime newsreels, and delirious animated sequences, all set to an experimental soundtrack by composer Mamoru Fujieda. Tanaami once stated there was something concealed in his past he felt compelled to revisit, and this work was part of a concerted effort to interrogate his memories from the standpoint of an observer.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Keiichi Tanaami was born in 1936 in Tokyo and died there in 2024. After graduating from Musashino Art University in 1960, Tanaami developed a unique interdisciplinary practice as an art director, graphic designer, illustrator, videographer, and artist. He worked with diverse moving image formats over the course of his career, ranging from 16mm and 35mm film to digital video. Tanaami was the subject of a landmark retrospective at the National Art Center, Tokyo, in 2024, and his work has been exhibited in group shows at leading international institutions including M+, Hong Kong (2025); the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2017); and the Tate Modern, London (2015).