From Gallery Seek to Osaka — Tanaka Raou’s “ANIMUS” Exhibition Opens at Abeno Harukas

Raou Tanaka — Artist page
Biography, available works and enquiries

Today, May 10, 2026, Tanaka Raou’s exhibition at Gallery Seek in Caretta Shiodome, Tokyo, came to a close. To everyone who visited during the run, who stood before the canvases and let the painted gaze of tigers and birds meet their own — our sincere gratitude.
The story, however, does not pause.
From May 20 through 26, Tanaka Raou opens a new solo exhibition, “ANIMUS,” at the Art Gallery on the 11th floor of Abeno Harukas in Osaka. The title draws from the Latin word for spirit, soul, primal will — a fitting frame for the work that awaits.
Tanaka Raou was born in Sapporo in 1985. In 2014 he claimed the title of Caricaturist of the Year at the ISCA convention in Nevada, earning a place in the Masters Hall of Fame. Two years later, he turned away from caricature entirely and committed himself to painting. Working primarily in acrylic and sumi ink on panel, he developed a method defined by a striking duality: unpredictable, uncontrollable flows of pigment — patterns born from chance and the physics of liquid media — overlaid with painstaking, almost forensic realism. Every strand of fur, every glint across a scale, is rendered with a precision that borders on obsession.
It is in the collision of these two forces — the accidental and the exacting — that his animals come alive. Tigers bristle. Birds flex. Solitary beasts fix the viewer with a stare that refuses to release. Tanaka Raou has spoken of his artistic turning point as an act of stripping away armor — shedding the social self to reach something raw and essential. “ANIMUS” is the distillation of that pursuit: pure life-form, standing unguarded.
The artist will be present at the gallery on May 23 (Fri) and May 24 (Sat), 1:00–5:00 PM. For those in the Kansai region, this is a rare opportunity to encounter the physicality of these works — and the painter behind them — at close range.
—