Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami
Gagosian Gallery
13 November 2010 - 15 January 2011
www.gagosian.com

By Emelie Ask

For the first time in Rome, Takashi Murakami is dedicated a solo-show at the Gagosian Gallery. The exhibition consists of only three of the Japanese artist’s works, the first of which is a painting situated in the immediate entrance to the gallery, Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, Blue and Death (2010). The other two works – Dragon in Clouds –Red Mutation (2010) and Dragon in Clouds–Indigo Blue (2010) - are situated in the main exhibition space upstairs and are the central works of the show, created site-specifically for the gallery. These monochromes, consisting of nine large canvases stretching 18 meters, each depicts an enormous dragon, whose symbolism comes into an interesting play in this show considering the strong contrasts of the artist’s Eastern background, and the site for which they were made; one of the leading modern Western galleries.

Murakami, one of the world’s most successful contemporary artists, was born in Tokyo in 1962, where he still lives and works in addition to his homes in New York and Los Angeles. His art bears influence of various movements and artists – though most evidently from pop art, and artists such as Andy Warhol - as well as other artistic fields such as the Japanese animation world of manga, in which Murakami has been an immensely important figure and one of the most successful creators throughout time. To this, many works in his oeuvre are witnesses of the profound influence on Murakami of his country’s turbulent history, such as the bombing of Hiroshima; for example, his characteristic skulls – as present in Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, Blue and Death in this show too – came out of the shapes of the massive smoke cloud as depicted by the artist in earlier works, such as Time Bokan – Blue from 2001. In addition to paintings, Murakami also works with mediums such as sculpture and computer, both of which are echoed in the show in the structures and certain formal qualities of the works.

On the visitor’s entering the main room for the first time, perhaps what is the most striking aspect – apart from the enormous size of the art works – is the presence of the loud colors of red and blue, and the profound contrast they account for. At the same time, the unavoidable immediate engagement with the subject matters signals to the viewer that the figures are one and the same, belonging together and trying to convey a message on a more profound dimension. And in fact, the monumental paintings also have a strong spiritual connotation; standing on the floor in between them, the visitor is almost literally enclosed in the world of Murakami’s creation. German thinker Arnheim’s theories on the creative process of art comes to mind, because at that same point in the midst of the paintings, the spiritual viewer participates in the moment of creation and hence in what Murakami calls ‘a prayer offering’ that he employed to ‘affirm his devotion to art’. The space itself – the circularity of the walls and the white cube atmosphere – adds to the notion of being embedded in another world, as there is no other element to disturb in this realm where the dragons are liberated from their Western symbolism, and instead transformed into a positive force. The works of art in this show is therefore a far cry from Murakami’s signature style in his typical pop art pieces with mixed palettes and flat, plastic appearances – in other words, the artist’s unusual but explicit intention with this show is fully graspable to the contemplating visitor.