“Andy Warhol Exhibition 1983–1984”, Original Japanese Keiichi Tanaami Exhibition Poster 1983, B1 Size (73 × 103 cm) AA49

This is an original Japanese B1 exhibition poster designed by Keiichi Tanaami for the nationwide 1983–1984 Andy Warhol exhibition organised by the Gendai Hanga Center (現代版画センター / Contemporary Print Center). Measuring approximately 72.8 × 103 cm, it represents an exceptional meeting between two defining figures of international Pop Art: Andy Warhol and Keiichi Tanaami.

Created during a pivotal period in Japan’s engagement with Warhol’s work, the poster combines his familiar portrait, signatures, and Kiku imagery with Tanaami’s unmistakable vocabulary of psychedelic colour, Japanese decorative motifs, commercial graphics, and visual excess.

Exhibition background

The Gendai Hanga Center organised an extensive programme of Andy Warhol exhibitions across Japan during 1983 and 1984, presenting his work to audiences through a nationwide series of museum, gallery, and commercial venues.

The project coincided with Warhol’s production of works specifically associated with the Japanese market, most notably the Kiku—or chrysanthemum—screenprint series. The chrysanthemum carried considerable cultural resonance in Japan, allowing Warhol to transform a highly traditional national symbol through his characteristic methods of repetition, colour variation, and commercial printmaking.

The Japanese text at upper right promotes the nationwide exhibition programme and the “Warhol Tokyo 365 Days” project, which commenced at Shibuya Parco in June 1983. It also advertises the exhibition’s substantial catalogue and associated Warhol print material.

Poster design

This spectacular B1 composition is unmistakably the work of Keiichi Tanaami, one of the principal architects of Japanese Pop and psychedelic graphic design.

A monumental metallic-gold triangle rises through the centre of the poster like a spotlight, pyramid, or theatrical stage. At its apex is a vivid red form containing an enormous watching eye—one of Tanaami’s recurring symbols of surveillance, spectacle, dreams, and altered perception.

Across the central field appears a delicate green line drawing of a chrysanthemum, directly referencing Warhol’s celebrated Kiku series. The flower is partially transparent and appears to float between the eye above and Warhol’s portrait below.

The centre carries Warhol’s observation:

“WITH ALL THE CONFUSIONS IN JAPAN IT IS STILL PEACEFUL”

The statement has the detached, paradoxical quality associated with Warhol’s public persona, contrasting Japan’s density of imagery, commerce, and activity with its underlying social order.

At the base of the triangle is a black-and-white portrait of a smiling Andy Warhol, overlaid with a brilliant orange-red facsimile signature and a second mirrored inscription in metallic silver.

Below, the composition dissolves into an expansive field of stylised blue, black, and gold waves, recalling the visual language of Japanese ukiyo-e while simultaneously resembling the dense repetitive patterns of commercial printing and comic-book illustration.

Typography and Japanese references

Around the margins, the letters of WARHOL and ANDY appear individually within colourful red, yellow, and green sunburst squares. These modular devices resemble commercial logos, television identities, record-company branding, or early digital-game graphics.

Behind them, large grey Japanese hiragana characters spell out Warhol’s name phonetically:

「あんでぃ・うぉーほる」
“Andy Warhol”

This layering of English and Japanese typography reinforces the poster’s position between American Pop Art and Japanese mass visual culture.

The lower-left edge carries the printed designer credit:

“KEIICHI TANAAMI”

while the central lower margin identifies the organising body:

「現代版画センター」
“Gendai Hanga Center / Contemporary Print Center”

Cultural significance

Tanaami had absorbed the influence of American Pop Art from the 1960s onward and encountered Warhol’s wider creative world during his visits to the United States. Designing the official poster for this major Japanese exhibition therefore represented a significant cross-cultural exchange between an artist who helped define American Pop and one of the most important figures in its Japanese transformation.

Rather than simply reproducing Warhol’s imagery, Tanaami integrates it into his own visual universe. The poster combines Warhol’s portrait, signature, and chrysanthemum imagery with Japanese waves, psychedelic eyes, metallic colour, commercial logos, and bilingual typography.

The result is not merely an exhibition advertisement but an independent work of graphic art documenting a particularly important moment in the international reception of Warhol and the development of Japanese contemporary visual culture.

Original B1 examples are now highly sought after by collectors of Warhol, Tanaami, Japanese graphic design, and post-war contemporary art.

Condition

Excellent+. The poster retains exceptional colour, strong metallic-gold printing, crisp typography, and superb overall display impact. Only minimal evidence of period handling is visible along the margins, entirely consistent with an authentic large-format exhibition poster of this age. Please review the photographs—they show the exact poster for sale.

This is an original Japanese B1 exhibition poster produced for the 1983–1984 Andy Warhol exhibition.
It is not a reproduction or a modern reprint.

It is approximately 43 years old.

Certificate of Authenticity included.