"TAKASHI MURAKAMI MONONOKE KYOTO"

Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Kyoto (Japan), 2024

The 90th anniversary exhibition “Takashi Murakami: Mononoke Kyoto”, held at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art, had been creating a buzz even before it opened.

It was the last large-scale solo exhibition in Japan — featuring the wind gods and thunder gods brought into the present, from the breathtaking Rakuchu Rakugaizu to works of the Rinpa school.

Visitors also looked forward to an architecture tour led by curator Maeda, who had become a topic of conversation at numerous architecture exhibitions.

Murakami held deep trust in Takahashi, whom he called “one of the few people in the art world in Japan.” Guests enjoyed the new Murakami world through approximately 170 pieces — including some shown publicly in Japan for the first time — along with many behind-the-scenes stories only Takahashi, his partner of 30 years, could share.

Takashi Murakami, Summer Flower Field under the Golden Sky, 2023, 300 x 1000 cm

Takashi Murakami, who holds a PhD in Nihonga (traditional Japanese painting), merges cutting-edge techniques with the meticulous skill and refinement of classical Japanese art. Drawing inspiration from anime and character culture, he constructs a vibrant, surreal universe inhabited by both endearing and monstrous figures—playful modern avatars of ancient mythologies.

In 2001, Murakami introduced his Superflat aesthetic through a trilogy of exhibitions, the final of which, Little Boy, referenced the codename of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Superflat challenges the divide between high art and popular culture, reflecting on Japan’s postwar identity and the connections between avant-garde art, manga, anime, and their shared roots in nihonga. The style’s signature flatness and lack of perspective—hallmarks of traditional Japanese art—permeate all aspects of his work.

Since his first solo exhibition outside Japan at Perrotin in 1995, Murakami has risen to international prominence, with his art showcased in major solo exhibitions at leading museums and institutions around the globe.

Takashi Murakami
Kyoto, Kawaii Summer Vacation, 2024
Archival Pigment Print + Silkscreen + gold leaf 
20 9/10 × 34 9/10 in | 53 × 88.6 cm
Edition of 50
Signed and numbered in ink lower right

Please check this link for more details: Kyoto, Kawaii Summer Vacation

References:

GQ Japan. (2024). 村上隆が語る、アートと商業、そして「本当の自分」について. Retrieved from https://www.gqjapan.jp/article/20240319-takashi-murakami-art

Maimai Kyoto. (2024). 【特別公開】高台寺 春の夜間特別拝観 ライトアップされた庭園と掌美術館へ. Retrieved from https://www.maimai-kyoto.jp/event/ky24b2325/