We just came back from the @Murakami exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.
One of the most internationally well-known contemporary Japanese artists, Takashi Murakami drinks of the popular and otaku culture to create his works of art in various media and non-negligible merchandising.
Murakami goes from the very childish universe of colorful smiling flowers, and the anime world of Kaikai Kiki (in the picture) or three-eyed Tan Tan Bo, to very adult and sexually explicit pieces like Miss Ko2, a long-legged waitress who has become one of the artist’s signature characters, Hiropon, a Japanese girl jumping a rope created by milk spurting from her gargantuan breasts, or her nude male counterpart whipping his sperm spurt. Also noticeable were his female Japanese girl transformers that greet you into the exhibit. Quite impressive.
Aside from his own merchandising, Murakami partnered with Louis Vuitton to create an exclusive line of bags. As part of the exhibit, one walks through a LV store, where one can actually purchase one of those bags or wallets. $2040 for a mid-size bag.
I found his Marcel Duchamp inspired ‘Box in a Valise’ series of miniaturized pieces, like a portable museum, very cute.
Watching his anime cartoons of Kakai Kiki traveling in the outer space and film stints (including a weird alien happy to be alive because he is turned on by a teenage girl) I had flashes of the Japanese series we watched on TV3: Capita Harlock, Dr. Slump, Candy Candy, Dragon Ball…
Japanese culture is so fascinating and so bizarre to me at the same time…