the 5th Dimension of Tatsuyuki Tanaka
Sci-fi is a genre that has touched the hearts of everyone who has had contact with it.
Books, movies, and series pop up fruitfully every year and fill the deepening vacuum of unanswered questions with quasi-real possibilities. Entire franchises like Dune or Star Trek are vastly appreciated, but, although less commercialized, Tatsuyuki Tanaka's illustrative universe is most definitely an equal.
The sepia-tinted illustrations give a nostalgic feel to the futuristic themes, elaborating on the imaginary lives of a well settled techno-civilization.
Tatsuyuki Tanaka is best known for his short animation film Toujin Kit, created for the collaborative mini-anime collection Genius Party Beyond in 2008, which loops around on YouTube. However, he was a key animator for the groundbreaking anime film Akira in 1989, and it’s safe to say that those themes are still prevalent in his art today.
Mixing Neo-Tokyo fantasies with steampunk traits, Tanaka dives into body-morphing anti-heroes, rebels, and gloopy monsters, all while doting on extensive storylines as backgrounds. Arguably criticizing capitalism and the social standards of Japanese society, his art is not a simple dystopian world, but a reflection of a myriad of issues we comply with daily. The animator’s wispy lines merge with the surreal characters and infrastructure he brings to life.
Still from his 2009 short film Toujin Kit.
Tanaka mainly works digitally but, this time, he created a collection of drawings for his next exhibition in Los Angeles, at Gallery Nucleus [@gallerynucleus], from October 1st to the 16th. He titled it after the storyline of his illustrations, “Day of the Clockwork Bodhi Brain of the 5th Dimension”, which is a visit to a strange festival in celebration of the Clockwork Bodhi Brain.
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be able to meet him and also participate in a private illustration class taught by Tanaka himself, available physically and virtually.
Click here to save a spot for the limited class in person or through the net.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
