TOKYO, Sept 3 — Upcoming exhibits in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Yokohama will show the contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami in many different roles.
Starting September 11, visitors to the Blum & Poe gallery in Los Angeles will have the chance to experience Murakami’s work as a curator, as he presents the work of three artists representing the new generation of Japanese ceramicists.
The art of ceramics is an important one in Japan, informed by the art of the tea ceremony, and despite cultural shifts, it continues to play a role in preserving heritage and in expressing the Japanese idea of beauty.
The three young designers chosen by Murakami — Kazunori Hamana, Yuji Ueda and Otani Workshop — are said to be informed by nature and by working in remote surroundings and all have several years of experience making art and exhibiting it in Japan, although many of the works on display will be seen in the US for the first time.
The exhibition runs through October 24. Find out more at www.blumandpoe.com/exhibitions/kazunori-hamana-yuji-ueda-otani-workshop.
Next up, on October 31 the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo will launch “Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats,” the artist’s first large-scale solo show in Japan in 14 years. At its center will be the artist’s three-meter-high, 100-meter-long painting “The 500 Arhats,” which the artist created as a show of gratitude to Qatar, one of the first nations to come to Japan’s aid following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The work was first unveiled in Doha in 2012.
A number of new pieces will also be included in the exhibition — and all of the featured works will be shown in Japan for the first time.
“The 500 Arhats” runs through March 6. Find out more at www.mori.art.museum/eng/exhibition/murakami_takashi.html.
Beginning on January 30, the artist’s role as a collector will be in the spotlight at Japan’s Yokohama Museum of Art. “Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Collection: from Shohaku and Rosanjin to Anselm Kiefer” will open the doors to Murakami’s private, 1,000-strong collection, which includes both artworks and everyday objects such as mugs, fastasy figurines and antiques, hundreds of which will be on display, reports The Art Newspaper.
Contemporary highlights in Murakami’s collection include Anselm Kiefer’s “Merkaba (chariot),” which Murakami spotted at the Gagosian Gallery in New York in 2010, as a well as Pop cartoon sculptures by Yoshitomo Nara and works by the German artist Friedrich Kunath. Older pieces include ink paintings by the 18th-century Japanese artist Shohaku.
“Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Collection” will run though April 3. Stay tuned for more information at yokohama.art.museum/eng. — AFP-Relaxnews
