INDEX
A Burst of New Methods and Collage Spirit
Keiichi Tanaami’s collage technique, which has become a crucial part of his artistic practice, originally began as a personal hobby in his youth. While early collage works can be seen in Chapter 2 of the exhibition, particular attention should be given to the works from the 2000s onwards, displayed from Chapter 7.
This installation, titled The Labyrinth of Arcimboldo, reimagines the portraiture of Arcimboldo by assembling portraits from vegetables harvested from his “memory garden.” In the conceptual drawings, there was a plan for tunnels to run through the center of the figures and the shed, with circular tracks laid out. The artist envisioned a cargo train repeatedly transporting images in and out. However, it appears that this concept was altered during the realization phase, which is somewhat disappointing. Take a quiet look at the shed in the back, which replicates a portion of the artist’s studio.
Inside the shed, various parts painted by Tanaami are closely packed together, along with his distinctive “color specification drawings.” Elements like monstrous women and airplanes are stored in cut-out form, revealing how the artist experiments with endless combinations to construct his compositions.
The “color specification drawings” are hand-drawn sketches that are first black-and-white copied, then collaged and colored with colored pencils, and finally, color sample chips are attached. Since the 2000s, the process has evolved where Tanaami creates these “color specification drawings” and assistants use them to generate data on a computer. Instead of manipulating data to find the final form, this method efficiently outputs the image that Tanaami has already envisioned in his mind. This approach reflects Tanaami’s desire to blur the lines between design and art, representing what might be called “artistic blueprints.”
