Big 3 – Art Nov 2017

Takashi Murakami: Lineage of Eccentrics: A Collaboration with Nobuo Tsuji and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Known as one of the most imaginative and important artists working today, Takashi Murakami has teamed with Japanese art historian Professor Nobuo Tsuji present their collaborative exhibition Takashi Murakami: Lineage of Eccentrics, currently at the MFA, Boston. Made up of a diverse collection of objects, including paintings and sculpture, created by the artist in direct response to Japanese masterpieces from the MFA’s collection, the juxtaposition of these two types of artworks reveals the dynamic conversation that is held between Murakami’s creations and these Japanese masterpieces.

At first, the saccharine sweetness of Murakami’s artworks appears drastically opposed to the Japanese masterpieces’ muted, traditional tones and ink on paper brushwork. A second look at the artworks, however, shows a clear connection and overlap of content, subject matter, and the emotional effect that both types of artworks achieve. Dragons, warriors, battles, and brightly colored creatures and flowers with smiley faces dominate the exhibition, and surround you as the spectator with a palpable feeling of epic energy and the vitality of life.

Often referred to as the “Andy Warhol of Japan,” the Pop Art aesthetic of many of Murakami’s pieces are soaked in the types of image representations that we are surrounded by in today’s public spaces, such as graffiti and wall murals.

While the show celebrates this fact, spaces of meditative ‘neutrality’ are present in the show, in both Murakami’s artworks and the Japanese masterpieces. Ensō, a large black circle made by what looks like a brushstroke on a simple white background, is an arresting example of a piece that provides a simultaneous and complementary sense of nuance and ethereal transcendence to the overall experience of the show.

—Maryam Yoon, November 2017