Keiichi Tanaami

Keiichi Tanaami was born in 1936 in Tokyo, and is one of the leading pop artists of postwar Japan. He has been active as a multi-genre artist since the 1960s as a graphic designer, illustrator, video artist, and fine artist. His career really started taking off during the 1960s during the hippie movement where he designed album covers for bands such as The Monkees and Jefferson Airplane. Later he went on to become the first art director for the Japanese edition of Playboy in 1975. He then suffered from a pulmonary edema where he hovered in a fragile state between life and death and suffered frequent hallucinations. During this time in the 80s and 90s is where a lot of his really twisted and crazier work came into light. Now at 77 he is still going as strong as ever with his very graphic and psychedelic aesthetic that has won him worldwide notoriety. This year he collaborated with Stüssy and designed some killer tees and last year he was honored at the world renown Art Basel in Miami. Good on you Keiichi, may you keep on keeping on for many more years to come brother.