
Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to announce its first exhibition with revered Tokyo-based artist Keiichi Tanaami (b. 1936). Breaking rank by bridging traditions of manga and ukiyo-e with Pop in the postwar period, Tanaami shocked the collective nervous system by incorporating Western contemporary cultural references drawn from animated cartoons and commercial advertisements, giving rise to a truly modern visual language that continues to exert international influence. Opening September 8th, the exhibition includes new monumental paintings; intimately-scaled canvases from the artist’s compulsively constructed Pleasure of Picasso series; and the recent video work Red Shadow—all in Tanaami’s optically dazzling style. His deployment of blazing color, dizzying layers of imagery, and canny mixture of American and Japanese cultural references capture the movement and energy of a society at once in constant motion and in search of desperately needed peace. Keiichi Tanaami: Manhattan Universe will be on view at the gallery’s 55 Great Jones Street location through October 8th, 2022.