16MM RUN, the experimental film programme in collaboration with Villa Lontana, returns on Friday 15 November with an appointment dedicated to Keiichi Tanaami (1936-2024), one of the most influential figures in Japanese pop art, thanks to his ability to fuse western and eastern aesthetics in an innovative and visionary way. The event presents for the first time in Rome a selection of the artist’s animated short films, from Marionettes in Masks (1968) to Chirico (2008), which combine dreamlike, surreal and psychedelic elements. The experimental use of animated cinema represents a distinctive aspect of Tanaami’s career spanning more than six decades in visual art, illustration, graphic design, animation and experimental cinema.   

Marionettes in Masks, 1965, 8′ 

This animated film, along with A Portrait of Keiichi Tanaami released the following year, focuses on the themes of face and identity. Tanaami viewed the myriad faces seen daily in the media as interchangeable “masks,” and presented them as symbolic representations of contemporary life. The marionettes in various masks embody a spectrum of personas, in styles ranging from painterly strokes to American comic-style illustrations. However, the marionettes ultimately collapse, overwhelmed by the dizzying speed of the information deluge. The direct influence of Pop Art on these motifs points to the artist’s desire to integrate new art movements into animation. 

Commercial War, 1971, 4:30′ 

Following a countdown, six sequences unfold in succession. Visual elements from ads for Coca-Cola, hamburgers, and cosmetics are combined with audio clips from Japanese TV commercials. These juxtapositions generate a pronounced sensation of cognitive dissonance, and removed from their original advertising contexts, the images and words take on a satirical tone. The first sequence in particular includes sporadic audio fragments that evoke a parliamentary debate, conveying an ironic take on the relentless flood of images and information disseminated by television and the emptiness of political rhetoric. In the final scene, a photograph of a crowd with indistinct faces is paired with dialogue that might be interpreted as critiquing the public itself. 

Good-by Elvis and USA, 1971, 7’3” 

As in Good-by Marilyn, Tanaami’s method of appropriating American pop culture while infusing it with his own sensibility is apparent in this animated film. It presents a series of moving images superimposed in collage-style, including photographs of movie stars like Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando as well as Tanaami’s frequently recurring motifs of erotic illustrations and fighter planes. Tanaami first visited the United States in 1970, and recalled that he avidly acquired inexpensive popular magazines there. Photographs and a magazine cover, dated January 1971, included in this work hint at his personal experiences in the U.S. 

Good by Marilyn, 1971, 4’25’’

This is one of the animated films Tanaami produced for the television program 11PM. It deploys reiterated eroticized motifs such as hot dogs, bananas, and pornographic cutouts intermingled with depictions of Marilyn Monroe wearing the Statue of Liberty’s crown as well as various Disney-style characters, creating a lively and rhythmic visual flow. Symbols of American pop culture are interwoven with Japanese cultural elements, such as the famous Glico sign in Osaka’s Dotonbori district and background music featuring the singing of Miki Hirayama. The inclusion of fighter planes and the Vietnamese flag, evoking war, further integrates disparate elements into Tanaami’s signature visual vocabulary. 

Study of the Virgin in School Uniform Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, 1972, 3’45’’ 

This work is clearly influenced by Marcel Duchamp’s “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even” (commonly known as “The Large Glass”), with a title that references Duchamp’s ironic approach to art. Keiichi Tanaami uses Duchamp’s work as a foundation to satirize Japan’s art scene at the time, filtering it through his own unique perspective. When this piece was released in the early 1970s, Japan’s artists were witnessing the waning of avant-garde energy, as they were increasingly being drawn into national projects in the midst of rapid economic growth. Within this context, Tanaami’s work, influenced by the psychedelic culture of the 1960s and Neo-Dada, boldly explores experimental expression through the medium of film. 

Oh Yoko, 1973, 5′ 

Set to John Lennon’s 1971 song “Oh Yoko!,” this animated film interweaves illustrations and photographs of Lennon and Yoko Ono with trademark Tanaami motifs such as insects and airplanes. It also features many elements associated with the Beatles, including submarines, strawberry fields, and the elephant-headed Hindu deity Ganesh. Vivid colors and shapes reminiscent of the animation in the 1968 Beatles film Yellow Submarine permeate the work, illustrating Tanaami’s active integration of influences from the counterculture of the day. 

Crayon Angel, 1975, 3′ 

This film represents a shift away from the vibrant Pop motifs that characterized Tanaami’s 1960s work and toward more intense wartime imagery. Motifs such as a woman blasted by a shockwave and chickens squawking in terror at the sound of air-raid sirens are drawn from his actual memories. Images of prewar comedians like Ken’ichi Enomoto laughing and photographs from Tanaami’s youth are seen through a grid-like filter, conveying the distance between the adult Tanaami and his childhood memories. The continuous heartbeat sound heard throughout the piece emphasizes the introspective nature of the work, which enables viewers to vicariously share Tanaami’s exploration of deep memory layers. 

Sweet Friday, 1975, 3’17” 

This animated film depicts morning on Tanaami’s favorite day of the week, Friday, set to light-hearted music. It follows his waking routine of washing his face, wiping his glasses, eating breakfast, and taking a shower. Various scenes from his imagination are interspersed among these daily actions with a flicker effect that evokes experimental films. Images include a sparrow he projected with a magic lantern as a child, goldfish his grandfather kept during World War II, and white female nudes, all juxtaposed without apparent connection, reflecting a morning mental state of interplay between the fantastical and the mundane. The inclusion of a letter and photographs from his close friend Ushio Shinohara offers a glimpse into Tanaami’s actual personal life. 

Why, 1975, 10′ 

Around this time Tanaami began integrating printing techniques into his film production, inspired by the reading of a newspaper article the morning after a Muhammad Ali fight. He was struck by the coarse, gritty texture of the printed photo, which to him conveyed greater immediacy and impact than television footage, and began exploring this tactile quality in his works. This particular work was driven by interest in the visual effects of enlarging and animating the halftone dots of newspaper and magazine photographs. In the film, enlarged dots gradually decrease in size, ultimately revealing a scene of a boxing match. The boxers’ clumsy movements, accompanied by sporadically off-key piano, showcase Tanaami’s whimsical sense of humor. 

Trip, 2005, 5′  

A visionary animation collaboratively crafted by Keiichi Tanaami and Nobuhiro Aihara, two iconic figures in the realm of Japanese experimental cinema. This film delves into the psychedelic and surrealistic visual language both artists are renowned for, offering a vivid journey through the subconscious. Melding fluid, hand-drawn animation with vibrant and disorienting imagery, Trip encapsulates the chaotic interplay of dreams and memories. 

 Chirico, 2008, 4:30′ 

This film is inspired by the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico: his paintings seemed to Tanaami like frozen instants within sequences of images, and he felt the urge to make them move through animation. The film starts with a scene from de Chirico’s Mystery and Melancholy of a Street (1914) in which a girl pushes a hoop. We then see de Chirico’s self-portrait merge with a faceless mannequin, and a surrealistic world based on the metaphysical painter’s style. Through the creative synergy of Tanaami and Nobuhiro Aihara, static images from de Chirico’s paintings are woven into a vibrant animated narrative.