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10-26－33

Since the 2000s, Tanaami has produced sculptures that draw inspiration from fantastical Buddhist statuary, such as the Edo-period (1603–1867) standing statue of the Thousand-
Armed and Thousand-Footed Kannon (collection of Shomyoji temple), believed to save all humanity with its myriad limbs, and the Kamakura-period (1185–1333) seated Nyoirin Kannon (collection of the Nara National Museum), said to grant all wishes. In Tanaami’s sculpture Inconceivable Body, multiple faces are stacked in a column, each with a piercing,
seemingly interrogatory gaze. He introduces other elements such as skulls, spiders, chickens, and goldfish, creating a bizarre entity that evokes mythical beings from Tanaami’s envisioned paradise. The creature stands atop an impossibly steep arched bridge, confronting the viewer like a gatekeeper between this world and the next (cats. 10-27, 28).