Tetsuya Tamanoi: Pop Out Again
Virtual Exhibition

SPEEDY GALLERY
2525 Michigan Ave., B5B, Santa Monica, CA 90404

Tetsuya Tamanoi was born in the year 1970.
While a contemporary artist, he also has a workshop where he makes studio set designs and installations.

His generation, often called the “MTV generation” in Japan, was heavily influenced by both Japan’s pop culture and the western, especially the American culture.

Japan has outstanding entertainment content. Many anime and comic content have been adapted into Hollywood movies. Many TV animations were exported to Europe since the 80s.

Netflix now leases a studio space of the major Japanese motion pictures production company, “Toho”, which made Godzilla among many other live-action movies. There’s also the Ninkyo (mafia in Japan) Series by Toei which Tarantino adored.

Countless action figure toys inspired by these movies and shows have been sold, attracting many to become action figure toys fans all over the world. Tamanoi created his artworks using polyester resin which makes the action figure toys. Additionally, he applied color gradation used in Ukiyo-e painting to create a new form of expression.

Along with the 4 new addition to his collection of works since his previous exhibition, enjoy Tamanoi’s art which adds a Western taste to spice up these Japanese brands.

Atsushi Fukuda

About the Artworks
New Series

Anonymous   （Adam ＆Eve）
Men and women (Adam and Eve) who ate the fruit of SNS gained the wisdom of self-expression, but in exchange they lost their anonymity. Is it free or inconvenient? A work that expresses the modern situation.

Appeared (Chocolate monolith)
A work that imitates the monolith that appears in “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
(The ratio of the size of the chocolate is the same as that of the monolith in the movie, 1: 4: 9) In the movie, the monkey began to evolve into a human by touching the suddenly appearing monolith. The artwork expresses that the act of chewing chocolate is an initiation of growing from a child to an adult. The fact that the chocolate appears slightly to the right gives us a hint that there was someone by the monolith just a moment ago.

Imagine (Cross cake)
Crosses and sweets that are symbols of Western culture as seen by the general Japanese, in which the majority are non-religious.
What can you see by creating an artwork that combines admiration of western cultures with religious concepts that one has no knowledge of? Is there anything in this work when seen by Christians, or would they say this is just a fake?

Contrast  (Chainsaw cake)
Cakes and sweets usually cute and sweet, representing gentleness.
In history, cakes and sweets were for the privileged classes. In this artwork, sweet food represents the epitome of human society, such as the Industrial Revolution, colonization, slave labor, and more. This is a work of irony.

Gradation & Bokashi Series
The gradation style is based on traditional Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Ukiyo-e uses bokashi which translated to “blurring.” Gradation & Bokashi Series also incorporates the candy color technique that has been established as a custom car painting method in the United States.

After the success of Japanese monster movies, or kaiju eiga, toys made of PVC were in high demand. Also, the concept of villain verses hero is loved by movie geeks inspired by the material and ideas from the movie. These artistic methods have been incorporated into my works for this exhibition.

Crumpled & Drip Series
This series is modelled on the simple technique of what children learn to do-hang, cut, paste, cut and crush. These sculptures that are finished with a crumpled look, with the other works that look like dripping paint, are influenced by pop artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Robert Rauschenberg.

Japan is an island surrounded by water, thus alienating us from the rest of the world. Perhaps this is the mystery behind “Things from Beyond the Sea” that captivates me. I hope you can explore the excitement of this bridge of cultures between Tokyo and LA.

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From 1st May 2021