[Shueisha Inc.] Shueisha Manga Art Heritage to host Keiichi Tanaami x Fujio Akatsuka “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!!” exhibition at Azabudai Hills
Shueisha Inc. Press Release: October 10, 2025 Shueisha Manga Art Heritage to hold Keiichi Tanaami x Fujio Akatsuka “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!!” exhibition at Azabudai Hills “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!! / Revolver” is the last work produced using gravure printing in Japanese publishing. This exhibition explores what made it so special through text covering the entire wall. Image
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URL: https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/11454/781/11454-781-29748466501a9409d283250f1b917b80-1200×1200.jpg Keiichi Tanaami “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!! / “Looking in the Mirror” (2021, edition 111, photogravure print) (C) Keiichi Tanaami, Courtesy of NANZUKA (C) Fujio Productions Ltd. / Shueisha Inc.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/11454/781/11454-781-03810ea55c9b9be538e773dcc02f7426-1200×1200.jpg Keiichi Tanaami “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!! / Iyami and Nancy” (2021, edition 111, photogravure print) (C) Keiichi Tanaami Courtesy of NANZUKA (C)Fujio Productions Ltd. / Shueisha Inc. The six gravure prints, which freely quote, transform, and transform characters from Fujio Akatsuka (1935-2008), the king of comedy manga, are titled “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!! / Revolver.” Tanaami’s creative output continued unabated, resulting in a diverse range of works, including paintings, kimonos, tarot cards, and tea rooms.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/11454/781/11454-781-99dc7f0ed93e213cf04ccc42df36a9a1-1280×720.jpg ART ON PAPER (2023, New York) Installation view (C) Keiichi Tanaami Courtesy of NANZUKA (C) Fujio Productions Ltd. / Shueisha Inc. In January 2023, the “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!! / That’s All Right!!” exhibition was held at PARCO MUSEUM TOKYO. The accompanying art book of the same name won the Tokyo ADC Hiromu Hara Award, the JAGDA Award, and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at the National Catalog Exhibition. Following an exhibition at the New York art fair “ART ON PAPER” in September of the same year, the gravure prints and art book were added to the collection of the New York Public Library. In September 2025, the “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!! / Revolver” series was invited to be exhibited at the “Art of Manga” exhibition (de Young Museum, San Francisco), where all six works were displayed in the final room of the exhibition. The “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!!” tent, kimono, and movie works are also currently on display at the Minnesota Street Project gallery space in San Francisco. To commemorate this, an exhibition featuring gravure prints from “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!! / Revolver” will be held at Shueisha Manga Art Heritage Tokyo Gallery (Azabudai Hills).
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/11454/781/11454-781-c3aae8d069ff22a5cc725d4707666088-2500×872.jpg Keiichi Tanaami looking at a gravure printing plate (2021) Gravure printing supported Japanese publishing during the period of rapid economic growth and is the origin of the term “gravure idol.” The printing presses used in these works are approximately 60 meters long and 15-20 meters high, equivalent to the height of a five- or six-story building. What kinds of prints were produced using these enormous machines? And how are Fujio Akatsuka’s characters referenced? These explanations will be displayed across the entire gallery wall.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/11454/781/11454-781-72bf23a14bbd6cccad715eb29234f979-1280×853.jpg Shueisha Manga Art Heritage Tokyo Gallery Interior
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/11454/781/11454-781-9341dfd8d46e619fe22e7953d9193370-1280×853.jpg Shueisha Manga Art Heritage Tokyo Gallery Interior
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/11454/781/11454-781-51edd947dfa890ffb033d21d160f56f7-1280×853.jpg Shueisha Manga Art Heritage Tokyo Gallery Interior The walls of the Shueisha Manga Art Heritage Tokyo Gallery are based on the concept of “paper passing through a printing press.” They are composed of curved white surfaces and feature metallic-colored cylinders reminiscent of the cylindrical printing plates used in gravure printing presses. This space will be utilized as an exhibition space.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/11454/781/11454-781-f0bd95b1b46bb0483adb8c51ae48fe81-1200×674.png A live performance at the exhibition “Keiichi Tanaami: Adventures in Memory” (The National Art Center, Tokyo). Yoko Honaga (dance), Akira Sakata (saxophone) In addition, a video of a live performance held at the exhibition venue of “Keiichi Tanaami: Adventures in Memory” (The National Art Center, Tokyo) on October 24, 2024, will be screened. You can watch a performance by Akira Sakata (saxophone, clarinet), Hiromichi Sakamoto (cello), and Yoko Honaga (dance). Keiichi Tanaami “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!!” Exhibition Dates: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 – Monday, December 29, 2025 Venue: Shueisha Manga Art Heritage Tokyo Gallery Address: B1, Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza A, 5-8-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Opening Hours: 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM Access:
Approximately 1 minute walk from Exit 5 of Kamiyacho Station on the Hibiya Subway Line Closed: Please check the website.
https://mangaart.jp/ja/venues/smah-tokyo-gallery Keiichi Tanaami (1936.7.21 – 2024.8.9) 1936 Born in Tokyo in 1958, he graduated from Musashino Art University and won the Nissenbi Special Selection in 1958. Influenced by American counterculture and pop art in the 1960s, he is a solitary artist whose creative endeavors transcend the boundaries of media and genre, from animation to silkscreens, manga-style illustrations, collages, experimental film, paintings, and sculptures. Inspired by his encounter with Andy Warhol, he has continued to use the design methodology of “editing” to this day, experimentally challenging key themes facing contemporary art today, such as “art and design,” “art and products,” “beauty of the everyday,” and “art and the masses.” Through his creative activities spanning more than half a century, he has earned international acclaim as one of Japan’s leading pioneers of postwar pop art. Recent major exhibitions by Tanaami include the retrospectives “Keiichi Tanaami: Adventures of Memory” (2024, The National Art Center, Tokyo), “TANAAMI!! AKATSUKA!! That’s All Right!!” (2023, PARCO MUSEUM TOKYO, Tokyo), and “Mirror Reflecting the World” (2020, Nanzuka Underground, Tokyo), as well as solo exhibitions “TOKYO POP UNDERGROUND” (2019, Jeffrey Deitch, NY), “Keiichi Tanaami” (2019, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland), “The World Goes Pop” (2015, Tate Modern, London, UK), and “International Pop” (2015, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis), among many others. His work is included in the permanent collections of museums such as MoMA (New York), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Art Institute of Chicago, M (Hong Kong), National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution, Washington), and Hamburger Bahnhof Museum of Contemporary Art (Berlin).