Opening today at Gagosian gallery Grosvenor Hill and also at the Gagosian shop in Burlington arcade is an exhibition of work by Takashi Murakami. Known for what many would call Pop art. Murakami is the creator of the “Superflat” art movement and blends the new with the old. Having trained in the bedrock of traditional Japanese art styles he became disillusioned with the rigidity of the genre at that time and began to explore contemporary art. Unleashed creativity followed and many Anime and Manga inspired works followed to much worldwide acclaim. Collaborations followed in the fashion and music worlds such as work with Louis Vitton, and Kanye West and Pharrell Williams, also Billie Eilish and Sir Lewis Hamilton.
This exhibition is expansive and impressive, not least in the scale of the artworks themselves. They blend the modern and the traditional by creating what appear to be classic Japanese paintings (albeit on a huge scale) but using modern techniques, finishes and references. What appears to be a traditional village scene with playing children and dancing cats, gives way to golden clouds in front of traditional mountains, which happen to have a UFO buzzing around their peaks! It’s difficult to convey the level of detail in these huge works without actually being stood in front of the work. One could spend a lot of time just examining and exploring the detail held within the 42 foot long “Rakuchu-Rakugai-Zu Byobu RIP(2023-2024)”.
Japanese Art History a la Takashi Murakami runs at the Gagosian Gallery 20 Grosvenor Hill and Gagosian Shop Burlington Arcade from the 10th of December 2024 until March 8th 2025. Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm.
