MURAKAMI TAKASHI MONONOKE EXHIBITION

Murakami Takashi is a Japanese artist at the forefront of contemporary art. The solo exhibition of Takashi Murakami is being held at Kyocera Museum of Art in Kyoto. His Super Flat concept exerted a significant impact on the contemporary art scene, because he linked traditional Japanese expressions with pop culture represented by anime and manga. I have seen Murakami’s solo exhibition entitled “The 500 Arhats in Tokyo” in 2016. At the time, my impression is that Murakami Takashi endeavored to incorporate Edo period paintings into his work through his interpretation.

The venue consists of six rooms in which 180 artworks, including a large number of new works, are on display. Two large statues, namely, Embodiment of Um and Embodiment of A, welcome visitors as they enter the center hall of the main building. In essence, they are guardian gods typically standing at the entrance gate of the temple.

The first room features Murakami’s version of “Rakuchu–Rakugai zu,”  (Scenes in and Around Kyoto), which is an adaptation of a famous painting of the same name by Iwasa Matabei. It depicts various scenes in Kyoto, including shrines and temples, entertainment districts, and people enjoying Kabuki. The painting is famous for its panoramic, lively expression of luxurious and gorgeous Kyoto. The Murakami version of it is worth viewing due to its detailed description of an old town in which his motif flowers and Wind God are included. It is colorful and visually stunning with gold background.

Kyoto is surrounded by mountains and rivers in four directions and protected by four divine gods (i.e., azure dragon, white tiger, vermillion bird, and black tortoise) with one god in each direction. Mononoke means an evil spirit or a ghost in Japanese.

In the second room, each corresponding position exhibits artworks with a motif of the four divine gods. The room is dark, and the wall and floor are covered with skeleton, which gives an image of death. The Rokkaaku Rasendo (Hexagon Spiral) bell tower rises in the center to ward off evil spirits.

The third room is called the Super Flat room, which highlights his signature character “DOB” created in 1993 and recent work called “Zu Zazazaza Rainbow.”

In the fourth room lies the Murakami version of “Thunder God Wind God Folding Screen,” which is an adaptation of a work of the same name by Tawaraya Sohtatsu. Against the golden background, the Thunder God and the Wind God are comically depicted and resemble mascot characters.

Painters during the Edo period inspired Murakami, who uniquely interprets and reconstructs their works in line with the times. “Flower Garden Under the Summer Golden Sky” is an allusion to “Hollyhock and Peacock Folding Screen” by Ogata Korin.

In the fifth room, artworks using digital data are on display and introduce Murakami’s recent trend. This room is painted in gold and is filled with “Kabuki No. 18,” Maiko, and “Gozan Okuribi” (a set of bonfires in six places on August 16, a famous annual event in Kyoto).

The exhibition is interesting and filled with unique ideas, fun, and creativity. Murakami Takashi attempts to convey Japanese aesthetics based on sense of value and philosophy to European Americans and to young people using anime and manga to make art more accessible and understandable. In this sense, he seemingly plays a major role.

The exhibition collected JPY300 million by introducing the hometown tax donation system. As a result, all students living and going to school in Kyoto City are free to visit the exhibition. At the same time, Murakami pointed out the small budget for public museums. Murakami seems like a protagonist who provides a different perspective to Japanese-style painting and society by thinking outside of the box.