Keiichi Tanaami - Contemporary Art Day Sale London Friday, October 17, 2008 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Nanzuka Underground, Tokyo

  • Catalogue Essay

    Nourished by the memories of his childhood and buffeted by the winds and branches, a great cosmic tree was planted. Leaves and branches intertwined in a mélange of conscience and sub-conscience, and bearing profoundly mysterisou fruit. Fed by theory, the tree produces fruit: design and art, vivid and unyielding in substance and not constrained by the predetermined ideas of the viewer. That is why Tanaami’s work are redolent with a strength that exceeds the superficialities of an art world that has reached saturation point. (Keita Fukasawa, Keiichi Tanaami’s Daydream: General Theory, Daydream Keiichi Tanaami, Nanzuka Underground Press, Tokyo)
     
    The present lot, adopted traditional Japanese designed sprinkled with psychedelic figures, urges indescribable feelings. The artist bares everything and nothing left hidden, all figures gaze directly into the viewers’ eye. Pine trees, fishes and waves are all frequently seen in Tanaami’s art works, it is the result of pleurisy, when he was hospitalized and had hallucinations of pine trees and fishes. The chaotic arrangement is also the result of wars that the artist had gone through. “At the time when I should have been nourishing myself into a big boy and playing the games wthat children play at that age, I was hounded by the unfathomable beast that is war. My dreams were wracked with fear, unease ire and disillusionment.” (Keiichi Tanaami, Keiichi Tanaami’s Daydream: General Theory, Daydream Keiichi Tanaami, Nanzuka Underground Press, Tokyo)

42

Goldfish Lurking in Darkness

2007
Acrylic and screenprint on canvas.
145.5 x 96.5 cm. (57 1/2 x 38 in).
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

Estimate
£10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for £34,850

Contemporary Art Day Sale

18 Oct 2008 2pm
London