Keiichi Tanaami — No More War

MilanArt & Culture

Pop Artist's Peace Movement

Lost sculptures display pop art pioneer's varying culture clashes...

Inspired by Yoko Ono and Nam June Paik, talented young illustrator Keiichi Tanaami began to make a name for himself in Japanese art during the 1960s, before having a pop-art-epiphany in 1967 – experiencing Andy Warhol’s blurring of design, art and consumerism during his first visit to New York. The rest, as they say, is history – Tanaami becoming one of Japan’s leading pioneers of pop art and designing album art for the likes of The Monkees and Jefferson Airplane along the way. In 1975 Tanaami was appointed the first art director of Playboy Japan, and it’s perhaps that experience that has most influence on this collection of rare sculptures from the 1980s.

Eroticism, late-60s psychedelia, traditional Japanese craftsmanship, pop art sensibilities and the idiosyncrasies of Keiichi Tanaami’s varying culture clashes are all evident in No More War – the first extensive collection of these sculptures – on display at Kaleidoscope Project Space, Milan, until 18th May.

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