When you think of Pop Art you probably think of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein or Peter Blake? They are the Western leaders in the Pop Art world.

What might not be as apparent is the Japanese movement in Pop Art.

Keiichi Tanaami was one of the earliest in the Japanese Pop Art movement, and he attended the Musashino art University. After graduation, and a brief flirtation with a design job, Tanaami went out on his own to experiment with animation, illustration and lithographs.

In the sixties Tanaami became exposed the Pop Art movement in the USA and met with Andy Warhol in New York. Inspired by Warhol’s silkscreen printing, Tanaami moved to America, and lived in San Francisco where his work become more colourful.

The ideas for his work stem from his dreams and his childhood memories, particularly the gruesome work he has created surrounding the torture he would inflict in goldfish. Tanaami was a particularly troublesome child when it came to inflicting unnecessary pain upon pets.