Is the Western world ready for the wildly unconventional ideas of Japan’s art maverick? Apparently so.
For those who had not yet heard of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami (b. 1962), two events in 2007 announced his importance within the contemporary art world. One was the record auction price realized in November at Sotheby’s New York for his 2004 painting Vapor Trail. The $2,393,000 figure replaced a previous record set the year before, when Nirvana 2001 was auctioned for $1,136,000 by the same firm.
A second wake-up call was the opening on Oct. 29, 2007 of a retrospective titled Copyright Murakami – comprised of more than 90 works by the artist – at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (The Museum of Contemporary Art) in Los Angeles.
Announcing the show, the museum referred to Murakami as “arguably the most internationally acclaimed artist to emerge from Asia in the postwar era.” The exhibition at the Geffen continues through Feb. 11, 2008 and is accompanied by a major 328-page catalog, co-published by Rizzoli, that is filled with essays by scholars.
Murakami is only in his forties and has been a known commodity for less than 20 years, so looking back over his “life’s work” gives even the artist pause to consider. During a series of promotional “spots” for the exhibition that he recorded in the MOCA galleries, he said, “I have big confidence in my recent work, and I have very embarrassing feelings about my early work. But the curator said, ‘This is you!’ I love that.”
MOCA and Murakami have a longstanding relationship of mutual admiration. The artist said, “MOCA has a very special place in my heart. Ever since seeing the amazing Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s (1992) exhibition, one of my goals was to someday have a solo exhibit at this museum and with the curator of that exhibition.” So this retrospective, organized by Chief Curator Paul Schimmel, is the fulfillment of that goal.”
Looking over Murakami’s retrospective is rather like taking apart the holiday turkey. There are wonderful light things that everyone loves, dark pieces that appeal to a select few, some bits that are frankly shocking, and a few parts that no one understands.
While veterinary scientists work out the turkey mysteries, art critics have labored hard to explain all the motivations for Murakami’s work. Arthur Lubow’s attempt in the April 3, 2005 edition of The New York Times Magazine ran 13 pages and made the oft-repeated comparison of the diverse designs of Murakami and the artistic and commercial enterprises of Andy Warhol.
To traditional art historians, the most difficult part of accepting Murakami’s work is the artist’s blurring of the lines between fine art, commercial art, and the Japanese otaku movement, a complex pop-culture world that includes anime, manga and some serious sexual fetishes. Lubow observed, “While best known as an artist, Murakami may be even more interesting as a thinker.”
“Five years ago he elaborated a theory under the clever rubric ‘Superflat,’ linking the flat picture planes of traditional Japanese paintings to the lack of any distinction between high and low in Japanese culture. On stylistic grounds, he grouped together some traditional artists of the Edo period (1603-1868) with the creators of modern-day animated films, arguing that there were important formal similarities in the flatness of their work.”
Murakami’s art and ideas are based on formal academic training. He received his B.F.A, M.F.A., and ultimately a Ph.D. in 1993 from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he studied Nihon-ga.
This Japanese painting movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries featured traditional Japanese pigments used with an expanded thematic repertoire that was no longer limited to scroll or screen.
If Murakami created nothing but his beautiful acrylic paintings, such as the 1998 works Milk or Cosmos – which are part of the current exhibition – there would be great critical appreciation but not much to discuss. The artist, however, has earned the Warholian reference by putting his talents to commercial uses, most notably in collaboration with Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, dating back to the 2003 spring/summer collection. Murakami gave a new twist to the LV logo with Monogram Cherry and Monogram Cerise motifs, as well as Vuitton-connected works designed for the MOCA exhibition.
The firm was a sponsor of the star-studded Oct. 28 gala opening of the Los Angeles exhibition, where Marc Jacobs was honored with a special gift from the artist. The list of celebrities in attendance was long and included achievers from many worlds: Angelica Huston, Casey Affleck, Naomi Campbell, Serena Williams, Tobey Maguire. And opening weekend attendance figures broke records for the museum.
In addition to non-confrontational works like those mentioned above, visitors saw paintings with pop-cultural references like Kawaii – Vacances (2002), a Happi-World floral that uses the Japanese word for “cute” in its title. They also viewed cartoon-like works with a dark edge, such as Tan Tan Bo (2001) – the subject looks a bit upset – and Tan Tan Bo Puking – a.k.a. Gero Tan, where he loses it altogether.
Most controversial are Murakami’s late 1990s Fiberglas sculptures that turn flat cartoon images into aggressive, life-sized 3-D works. In his video tour, Murakami related that his creations of the female Hiropon and male My Lonesome Cowboy – both characters spew bodily fluids in lasso-like arcs – were first exhibited in this country with an adults-only warning on the gallery door.
Less alarming is the sculpture composition DOB in the Strange Forest from 1999, where multiple mushrooms give the Murakami signature figure DOB an Alice-in-Wonderland look. Another character, Miss KoKo, was part of two important sculptural groups from 1997 and 1999. Although the 6-foot-high waitress in a short skirt may not seem threatening to American viewers, otaku fan boys apparently were not pleased to see the traditionally cute object of desire pumped up to these dimensions.
The sale of a Miss KoKo figure at Christie’s New York in 2003 for $567,500 – at that time an artist record – was a major attention-getter on the East Coast. Many more New Yorkers were able to enter a Takashi Murakami fantasy world that fall when he constructed an installation titled Reverse Double Helix at Rockefeller Center, with support from Target and the Public Art Fund. The complex was centered on another of the artist’s characters, Tongari-kun or “Mr Pointy” who stood 30 feet tall.
As befits a retrospective, visitors to Copyright Murakami can view all these past works in separate sections that explore the discrete aspects of the artist’s career. The in-your-face opening displays the sexy Fiberglas sculptures, including a re-creation of Miss KoKo as she appeared in the environment as set up for the 2000 Wonder Festival, a comic market convention.
The second section of the show displays Murakami merchandise, collectibles, and multiples on industrial shelving. Another important section brings back Mr. Pointy in a Buddhist ensemble of many figures. Debuting in the exhibition is an 18½-foot work Oval Buddha, on a lotus-leaf pedestal with an elephant at its base.
Fortunately for collectors, there’s a wide price range for Murakami works. Major works may fetch six and seven figures at galleries and auction houses, but graphics made in multiples can be purchased through dealers for under $5,000 in the secondary market. Ellen Vinitsky at Clark Cierlak Fine Arts in Sherman Oaks, Calif., said, “We have sold a number of Murakami’s works over the years. He has become more and more respected and popular, thus warranting greater hammer prices at auction.” (Illustrated on the last page of this article is Mr. Wink, a delightful small plastic sculpture sold recently by Cierlak.)
Gary Santoro of auctioneers Wittlin & Serfer in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., said, “We handle mainly the graphic work. I love it – we’re acquiring whatever we can, whenever we can. It’s been one of the hottest things in the market. It has a very Warhol-like feeling to it in some respects because he’s doing the whole pop thing. And it seems to be appealing to all collectors, young and old.”
Kay Richards of Ikon Gallery in Santa Monica, Calif., has bought and sold his work for many years. “He crosses over in terms of his appeal and – conceptually – he’s really the inheritor to the Warhol legacy with his idea of a factory,” Richards said. “He’s creating environments, merchandising – in a way it’s very Warholian. Warhol died in 1986, and 20 years later we’re in a different culture.”
She continued, “It’s appealing pop culture; it’s a newer pop art. I think that the work is deceptively sweet. But it’s broader than that. It has a different basis. It’s very seductive in terms of its appeal, but many of his figures have ‘teeth.’”
“Looking at it from a market perspective, [Murakami] also works in series, like Warhol, whether it’s Louis Vuitton or the DOB series. A lot of the works are similar and thus easier to quantify than those of some other artists. He’s producing works at a lot of different levels. He’s very directly marketing to people.”
The Museum of Contemporary Art Web site www.moca.org has multiple Murakami exhibition extras including clips of the artist discussing works in the exhibition and an intro to a new animated feature starring characters Kaikai and Kiki, which have been called Murakami’s spiritual guardians.
Go directly to the source and visit the Web site of Murakami’s U.S. base at Kaikai Kiki New York in Long Island City (http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp), where his work is on display, as well as works by other young Japanese artists under his umbrella.
The office and studio collaborates with galleries, helps manage ongoing projects, and fields a public relations team. This studio functions on opposite hours to Kaikai Kiki Japan, thus allowing Murakami to stay on top of his world 24/7.
