Japanese Pop Artist Keiichi Tanaami – Incredible Art Exhibit

A very popular venue for art galleries is the Chelsea area of Manhattan, from the West 20’s to 30s, near the West Side Highway and the High Line. Although New York doesn’t have official gallery nights like some cities do, there are typically many opening receptions in New York City on Thursday, Friday and/or Saturday evenings.  I happened to receive a mailing inviting me to one such opening for this past Thursday, and decided to go. I then took a look at New York Art Beat (I also have the app on my iPhone), and printed out a list of some of the other openings scheduled for that night. (Won’t Run loves it when I drag him out on such endeavors – – NOT!).

We walked into a few galleries, sipped on some wine, and walked on. (Won’t Run was making his predictable jokes about how he could create better art than some of these artists…. ). We were almost done with 22nd Street, when we were drawn to the brightness and energy of one gallery in particular. It was the Sikkema Jenkins Gallery, located at 530 West 22nd Street. We entered and were overcome by the bright, zany, incredible art of Japanese artist Keicchi Tanaami.

I am not an art aficionado. I am more visceral.  If I am drawn to it and like it, well, then I like it. I was really drawn to Tanaami’s art.

The first thing I noticed when we entered the gallery was this video.  We were mesmerized and immediately hooked on Tanaami!

The exhibition is called Visible Darkness/Invisible Darkness and runs through April 23rd. Here are some photos, but of course it is even more incredible to see these works in person!

Here’s a photo of the artist, Keiichi Tanaami:

This woman, the artist’s friend, was wearing the most amazing tights, which Tanaami designed as a special limited edition artist’s series for CW-X.  Friends who saw this photo, advised me that this woman is artist Noriko Shinohara, featured in the film Cutie and the Boxer.