Takashi Murakami is undoubtedly the most famous Japanese artist in the world, star of contemporary art, painter, sculptor and even director. A 360 ° creative talent that TIME magazine in 2008 defined the most influential representative of contemporary Japanese culture. Francesco Bonami takes him to Milan with an exhibition until early September
MILAN – The exhibition “Takashi Murakami – The Arhat cycle” opens to the public today in the beautiful Sala delle Cariatidi of Palazzo Realein Milan. The hall, which keeps alive the signs of the bombings of the Second World War, is the perfect place to host contemporary art exhibitions, like this one by Murakami who stages the great tragedy of Fukushima with the Arhat Cycle. Among other things, the Municipality of Milan is the first Italian public institution to present a large-scale painting and sculpture exhibition by the Japanese artist, founder of the first large-scale production and art management company, in one of its locations. Kaikai Kiki Co. THE EXHIBITION – After the large traveling exhibition © MURAKAMI and the large retrospective held in the sumptuous halls of the Palace of Versailles, that of Milan is an unprecedented proposal, a surprise for the city, which investigates the renewed methods of painting used by the artist in the last two years and proposes techniques and styles developed by the artist starting from Ego, the great exhibition of 2012 held at the Al Riwaq Hall in Doha in Qatar. At the entrance to the exhibition, visitors are greeted by the silvery reflections of light of the sculpture Oval Buddha Silver (2008), a masterpiece of technique both for the attractive meticulous details and for the imposing and disturbing presence. On display and also on display a selection of the artist’s painted self-portraits, which playfully represent the continuous research that Murakami has conducted on his own image and on the perpetually changing perception of his place in the universe. In the self-portraits on display, the artist portrays himself as a new Little Prince of Saint-Exupery, standing on a nebula rather than on a planet, and often with a black hole behind him ready to swallow it. There is no fear, no drama in these works, rather the serenity and the awareness of being powerless in the face of the uncontrollable energy and forces of the universe. Finally, a third series of paintings, specially made for the exhibition, portrays a constellation of skulls which – almost as in a waterfall – overlap with each other, merging together: psychedelic colors and shapes are thus placed in definitive contrast with the macabre aspect of the subject. Also tonight at 20 at the Apollo SpazioCinema it will be possible to see the Italian preview of and often with a black hole behind it ready to swallow it. There is no fear, no drama in these works, rather the serenity and the awareness of being powerless in the face of the uncontrollable energy and forces of the universe. Finally, a third series of paintings, specially made for the exhibition, portrays a constellation of skulls which – almost as in a waterfall – overlap with each other, merging together: psychedelic colors and shapes are thus placed in definitive contrast with the macabre aspect of the subject. Also tonight at 20 at the Apollo SpazioCinema it will be possible to see the Italian preview of and often with a black hole behind it ready to swallow it. There is no fear, no drama in these works, rather the serenity and the awareness of being powerless in the face of the uncontrollable energy and forces of the universe. Finally, a third series of paintings, specially made for the exhibition, portrays a constellation of skulls which – almost as in a waterfall – overlap with each other, merging together: psychedelic colors and shapes are thus placed in definitive contrast with the macabre aspect of the subject. Also tonight at 20 at the Apollo SpazioCinema it will be possible to see the Italian preview of rather the serenity and the awareness of being powerless in the face of the uncontrollable energy and forces of the universe. Finally, a third series of paintings, specially made for the exhibition, portrays a constellation of skulls which – almost as in a waterfall – overlap with each other, merging together: psychedelic colors and shapes are thus placed in definitive contrast with the macabre aspect of the subject. Also tonight at 20 at the Apollo SpazioCinema it will be possible to see the Italian preview of rather the serenity and the awareness of being powerless in the face of the uncontrollable energy and forces of the universe. Finally, a third series of paintings, specially made for the exhibition, portrays a constellation of skulls which – almost as in a waterfall – overlap with each other, merging together: psychedelic colors and shapes are thus placed in definitive contrast with the macabre aspect of the subject. Also tonight at 20 at the Apollo SpazioCinema it will be possible to see the Italian preview of psychedelic colors and shapes are thus placed in definitive contrast with the macabre aspect of the subject. Also tonight at 20 at the Apollo SpazioCinema it will be possible to see the Italian preview of psychedelic colors and shapes are thus placed in definitive contrast with the macabre aspect of the subject. Also tonight at 20 at the Apollo SpazioCinema it will be possible to see the Italian preview ofJellyfish Eyes , Murakami’s first live-action feature film, a story about the adolescence of a Japanese boy who compares his past with his post-Fukushima future. THE CYCLE OF ARHAT– The heart of the exhibition are the three Arhats, large-format paintings between 5 and 10 meters in length designed in response to the latest earthquake that hit Japan. The term Arhat derives from the Sanskrit and means “being who has attained enlightenment”. The source of the images represented in these paintings is an ancient tale that tells the story of Buddhist monks facing decline and death, in which demonic monsters and decrepit monks in traditional robes and vestments wander through psychedelic landscapes. Takashi Murakami, the great artist appreciated all over the world for his ability to bring together pop culture and Japanese tradition, manga and Buddhist iconography in his works, brings to Milan these three large-format works, which somehow refer to the drama of Fukushima. If Hiroshima had undermined the rigid tradition of Japanese culture by projecting it into the surface of modernity, the Fukushima catastrophe (the earthquake, tsunami and consequent nuclear disaster) of 2011 tore Japan from its incurable adolescence by throwing it into a sudden maturity. In the works presented at the Royal Palace, Takashi Murakami talks about this new psychological and social dimension of his country.24 July 2014
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