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10. Talisman of the Baku

At the age of 88, Keiichi Tanaami continues to create large-scale works that can be likened to mandalas of his memories, seamlessly blending remembered scenes from his childhood up to the present day. It is evident that his works reflect his life story, even if unintentionally. Recurring motifs such as fighter planes, characters from American comics, pine trees and goldfish float above tumultuous waves evoking scenes of war. Tanaami’s panoply of memories coalesces in a utopian realm wherein dichotomies of good and evil are nullified. Having lived through wartime air raids and severe illness, Tanaami continually engages with death as a pervasive force inseparable from life. He has described the bizarre creatures frequently appearing in his works as avatars of people wounded in war, or as embodiments of ourselves freed from fear. In East Asian tradition, the baku is a supernatural being believed to devour nightmares, and people place talismans invoking the baku under their pillows to summon auspicious dreams. For Tanaami, making art is a means of negating fears of death, dispelling negative emotions and transmuting them into positive imagery. His works are analogous to talismans, repelling evil spirits and beckoning good fortune. The more he contemplates death, the more acutely he perceives life, and this ceaselessly fuels his passion to soar to even greater creative heights.