Purrfect storm Aug 16, 2008
The comment links to the view held by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, who sees "cute" as a way for Japan to "wield its economic and cultural soft-power to attain international dominance". Provocatively, Yano says, he suggests that "cute" is a way for Japan to economically and even culturally re-masculise itself to attain international dominance. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
To turn shovel designs into fanciful images, artist digs deep Aug 6, 2008
June August's monotype "Murakami Dress" sets the bustled silhouette of a 19th-century woman in bold blue against a backdrop of the bobbing smiley faces of contemporary artist Takashi Murakami. "A Woman's Place" doesn't have the same meaning it once did, at least in Western countries, and so, unlike "Blow-Up," the show as a whole feels nebulous. (Boston Globe)
* Art that 'resin'-ates with the masses Jul 23, 2008
On the other hand, he also notes that the lines between consumer design and fine art are becoming increasingly blurred, citing Takashi Murakami as an example. The Japanese artists oeuvre includes giant fiberglass sculptures, Louis Vuitton bags and plush toys. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Author picks coolest hotel rooms to stay Jul 7, 2008
Entries include the Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amista in Verona, Italy, just miles from the center of Verona, and which has hosted creative heavyweights such as author Takashi Murakami. In Frankfurt, Germany, Goldman 25hours Hotel catches the eye with its orange-and-blue facade. (MSNBC -- Travel)
Kanye West's Blog Jul 2, 2008
Takashi Murakami has designed several of West's album covers, and West's "Stronger" video is set in nighttime Tokyo, red Katakana letters flashing across the screen periodically. West's blog features Japanese creative types like Tokujin Yoshika, a designer who makes furniture out of glass (06. (Suite101.com)
News of the Weird Jun 15, 2008
2 million at a Sotheby s auction to acquire sculptor Takashi Murakami s My Lonesome Cowboy, which is of a naked man holding his penis and creating a long, curly lasso out of his ejaculate. Fetishes on parade. (Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)
* Basel art fest ends with signs of a slowdown Jun 11, 2008
5m-tall Oval Buddha by Japanese art star Takashi Murakami, was sold for US$8 million, the gallery confirmed. And a painting by Ellsworth Kelly, priced at US$5 million and topping a list of 18 works by the American artist, was also sold, according to his New York dealer. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Open & Shut Case Jun 5, 2008
June 5, 2008 -- A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed Louis Vuitton's claim that its Monogram Multicolore handbags designed by the artist Takashi Murakami were knocked off by accessories maker Dooney & Bourke. The trademark lawsuit - filed by Louis Vuitton in 2004 - was unusual because it involved one high-profile fashion brand suing another. (New York Post -- Business)
Industrial-Strength Art Jun 4, 2008
Is Takashi Murakami Japan's Andy Warholor its Walt Disney. Mia Finemanposted April 16, 2008. (Slate)
Younger Chinese artists struggle to excite buyers in market some view as overpriced May 31, 2008
" Zhang is one of several market professionals who have raised concerns that Chinese contemporary art could be becoming overpriced, and might be heading for an inevitable correction, after recording stellar gains of about 40 percent each year for the past two years. Still, if the latest auction results for Asian contemporary artworks at Christie's are anything to go by, buyers are still extremely bullish, though increasingly selective. The inaugural evening sale of Asian Contemporary Art at... (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Louis Vuitton sales don't suffer in downturn May 25, 2008
There's another one in that same vein that is a collaboration with (Japanese artist) Takashi Murakami. Marc Jacobs and Takashi designed a pattern for Vuitton which is based on the monogram, but it's very unique and it's called Monogramoflage. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Business)
Seasonal Sales Lack Spring May 17, 2008
Still, the sales bubbled with drama, with a number of celebrities stopping by to raise paddles, including designer Valentino Garavani and artist Takashi Murakami. At least 53 artist records were broken, including those for Fernand L;ger, Claude Monet, Yves Klein, Tom Wesselman and Robert Rauschenberg, who died earlier this week at age 82. (Wall Street Journal)
Auctions: Bacon triptych auctioned for record $86 million May 15, 2008
Only 10 of the 83 works failed to sell, and 18 artist records were set for names ranging from Yves Klein and Piero Manzoni to Tom Wesselmann and Takashi Murakami. By far the most exciting moment of the evening was when "Triptych," Bacon's comment on his own angst a vast (each of the three panels measures about 6 feet by 5 feet) and densely painted allegorical painting came up for sale. (International Herald Tribune)
Bacon painting sets postwar auction record May 15, 2008
Tom Wesselmann, Lee Krasner, Brice Marden, Piero Manzoni and Takashi Murakami set records as well, with Murakami obliterating his old mark of $2. 7-million as My Lonesome Cowboy fetched a whopping $15. (Globe and Mail)
$86 million for a Bacon triptych leads record sales at Sotheby's May 15, 2008
The first record, which surprised many in the room, went to a larger-than-life figure of an adolescent standing, legs wide apart and penis erect, handled in video-game fashion by its maker, Takashi Murakami. Titled "My Lonesome Cowboy," the fiberglass and iron character, painted in the garish colors that used to be those of porcelain dolls half a century ago, was produced in 1998, in an edition of three, plus two artist's proofs. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Knock It Off00004000, Vuitton Says May 6, 2008
KNOCK IT OFF, VUITTON SAYS - New York Post. Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Last Update: 07:15 AM EDT. (New York Post -- Gossip)
Christie's to hold evening sale of Asian art in Hong Kong Apr 20, 2008
It will include several high caliber and rare works by leading Asian artists including Zeng Fanzhi, Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang, Takashi Murakami and others. Christie's also exposes Indonesian art outside Indonesia. (Jakarta Post, Indonesia -- Features)
SLIDE SHOWIs Takashi Murakami Japan's Andy Warhol? Apr 18, 2008
Is Takashi Murakami Japan's Andy Warholor its Walt Disney ... Is Takashi Murakami Japan's Andy Warholor its Walt Disney ... The New Emperor of No-BrowIs Takashi Murakami Japan's Andy Warholor its Walt Disney. (Slate)
The New Emperor of No-Brow Apr 16, 2008
Is Takashi Murakami Japan's Andy Warholor its Walt Disney ... Is Takashi Murakami Japan's Andy Warholor its Walt Disney ... Click to read a slide-show essay about Takashi Murakami. (Slate)
Peter Schjeldahl: A Takashi Murakami retrospective. Apr 13, 2008
Work by the Japanese artist-entrepreneur Takashi Murakami. Images of Jean-Luc Godard and Fran. (New Yorker)
Murakami's Big-Breasted Girls, Vuitton Retail in Show: Review Apr 5, 2008
For 46- year-old Takashi Murakami, art is the straightest path to commerce. This retrospective -- full of Murakami's twisted cartoon imagery such as melting gorgons, depressed Buddhas, sex-obsessed aliens and grinning sunflowers -- is geared to kids as well as adults, judging by several instructional labels positioned low on the walls. (Bloomberg)
Kanye West Album-Cover Artist Takashi Murakami Talks About Working With 'Ye, At His NYC Exhibit Opening Apr 5, 2008
Takashi Murakami and Kanye West at the Brooklyn Museum on Thursday (Photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage. com). (VHI.com -- Music News)
Murakami's giant world of whimsy arrives in New York Apr 3, 2008
Assembling the works of Takashi Murakami ... Overseeing the scene was Paul Schimmel, chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles but in recent weeks a fixture in Brooklyn, New York, as he mounts a major retrospective of the creator of these works, the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Read Article » Apr 2, 2008
Overseeing the scene was Paul Schimmel, chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles but in recent weeks a fixture in New York as he mounts a major retrospective of the creator of these works, the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami ... Ruby Washington/The New York Times Takashi Murakami's show at the Brooklyn Museum includes some 90 works, sampling Murakami's entire whimsical world in paintings, wallpapers, colorful sculptures, drawings and a 20-minute animated video. (International Herald Tribune)
Asian buyers seeking undervalued contemporary art in Japan Mar 24, 2008
While the price of art in some sectors was rising fast, driven by Chinese, Indian and Russian buyers, the Japanese art market, like its economy, was subdued, despite a rich aesthetic heritage and influential artists like Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara. Today, this is changing as Japan's neighbors - Chinese, South Koreans and Taiwanese in particular - go bargain-hunting for undervalued contemporary art. (International Herald Tribune -- Business)
Modernism for the masses Mar 8, 2008
A Takashi Murakami lithograph hangs above the fireplace. Most stunning is a colorful canvas divided into three segments of similar abstract patterns. (AZCentral -- Home)
The Red Campaign Comes to Sothebys Feb 18, 2008
Takashi Murakami, Red Flower Ball (3-D), smiling flowers configured in a soccer ball pattern. $1. (New York Times)
Bono, Hirst auction combines art, charity in NY Feb 5, 2008
"It's the cream of the international contemporary art crop," Barker said of the roster that includes Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning, Richard Prince and Takashi Murakami. Hirst contributed seven works, including "Where there's a will there's a way," a monumental medicine chest sculpture containing hundreds of metal HIV pills. (AlertNet)
Japan cool is here to stay Jan 17, 2008
Think Takashi Murakami, whose MOCA exhibit broke opening week attendance records in October and is in full bloom through Feb. 11; Eric Nakamura, whose pop culture magazine Giant Robot spawned a retail empire; cutting-edge musician Cornelius, who has flown in from Tokyo to play Walt Disney Concert Hall tonight (see sidebar on the next page); and Rrstar Ai, who is headlining the El Rey Theatre in her only U.S. show this year on Jan. 31. Though there are more than 50,000 Japanese nationals in L.A.... (Los Angeles Times)
Art Basel Miami Beach Dec 16, 2007
9-million, gazes out from beside a giant plastic toadstool by Takashi Murakami ($875,000), the subject of this season's Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art retrospective. The L.A. museum is just one of dozens of international museums with board delegations attending the fair, the patrons led by museum directors and curators. (Globe and Mail)
Window wonderland Nov 9, 2007
In previous years, Robert Wilson and Takashi Murakami have expressed their ideas in Louis Vuitton's windows. In New York in 1961, Andy Warhol designed the windows for the department store Lord r, installing his giant paintings of Dick Tracy behind the glass. (Guardian Unlimited)
Owen Wilson out in the open Nov 2, 2007
The actor showed off his new toilet training when he attended a ball in honor of Japanese pop culture artist Takashi Murakami at Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art on Sunday. A source told the New York Post newspaper, "He was with a girl with blonde highlights, and he went to the bathroom and peed with the door open.". (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
'Devil Knows You're Dead' premieres Oct 31, 2007
L.A. hosts Takashi Murakami exhibition ... Owen Wilson and Serena Williams were also onhand to meet artist Takashi Murakami. (Variety)
More of this story Sep 29, 2007
Murakami at the Geffen Contemporary: It's been quite a while, but finally the Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo is reopening with this retrospective that traces the varied, colorful work of Takashi Murakami. The show, which debuts Oct. 29, is one of the most anticipated exhibits anywhere in Los Angeles this fall, as it explores the artist who created a style called "Superflat," which comments - with much humor - on modern Japanese culture. (Los Angeles Downtown News, CA)
Kanye's 'Graduation'; Sep 21, 2007
Takashi Murakami gets Kanye West album ready to launch - Los Angeles Times ... Takashi MurakamiAlbum art for Kanye West's "Graduation," the top-selling album in the country this week ... Takashi Murakami gets Kanye West album ready to launch. (Los Angeles Times)
Kanye West maturing Aug 28, 2007
He nods to hipster culture with an album cover designed by the Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami and an alternate video for "Can't Tell Me Nothing" starring the alternative comedian Zach Galifianakis, who filmed it at his North Carolina farm after he was personally solicited by West. Galifianakis lip-syncs to the song as he drives a tractor, accompanied by the indie-rocker Will Oldham and a troupe of clog dancers. (International Herald Tribune)
What surprise? The Quality is gone, Selling out Aug 15, 2007
Paul Schimmel, the chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, announced that the museum would install a fully functioning Louis Vuitton boutique to encourage visitors to the museum "to experience the commercial work" of the designer Takashi Murakami "as profoundly as they will the most complex paintings, sculptures and exhibitions" (People, Aug. 10). So now a Louis Vuitton handbag designed by Murakami is on par with a Picasso or Matisse in the next gallery of the Los Angeles... (International Herald Tribune -- Ed/Op)
Is it art or shopping? Aug 9, 2007
(Guillaume Galloy / Louis Vuitton) (Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd) Message Board Should the boutique in MOCA's upcoming exhibit be considered art ... By Diane Haithman In a move that seems sure to offend art world purists, the downtown Museum of Contemporary Art will merge the worlds of art and commerce this fall by including a fully operational Louis Vuitton boutique as part of a retrospective of the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. (Los Angeles Times)
From simply adorable to deliciously sophisticated Aug 6, 2007
Takashi Murakami, a leading artist and scholar in Japan, blends contemporary pop culture references with Japanese art history in his painting "If the Double Helix Wakes Up. . ." The piece -- like much anime, and traditional Japanese paintings -- is all surface, no pictorial depth ... Her "Takashi Murakami C Positive" is a lovely variation on Murakami's own work, with those quirky circles floating in front of him as if he were juggling them; his own pony-tailed head mirrors the shape. (Boston Globe -- Living)
Fine art gets contemporary with two new exhibitions Jul 18, 2007
Media Credit: Photo Courtesy/Museum of Fine Arts"If the Double Helix Wakes Up," by Takashi Murakami, is on display in "Contemporary Outlook: Japan" at the MFA. ... Samuelson said Takashi Murakami, an anime and cartoon enthusiast, was the most well-known artist on display. (Northeastern News, MA)
At Art Basel, competition heats up the market Jun 14, 2007
" asked a bemused Anne Mosseri Marlio, as she was surveying the red dots beside many of the paintings in Paula Cooper's booth. The doors to Art Basel, the annual contemporary art fair here, opened promptly at 11 a.m. and 10 minutes later Marlio, a collector from Basel, looked visibly distraught. Works by artists like Kelley Walker, Sherrie Levine and Rudolph Stingel had already been sold. Steven Henry, director of the New York-based Paula Cooper Gallery, seemed just as surprised. "People... (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Microsoft's art collection has some hang-ups Jun 9, 2007
Hanging in the halls of Microsoft's sprawling corporate campus are 4,500 pieces of contemporary art, some by such artists as Chuck Close, Takashi Murakami and Cindy Sherman. The software company spends just a sliver of its billions on art, so full-time curator Laura Matzer is working with what she's got to gain respect for the collection in the art world, while balancing the quirks like those ubiquitous posters of working within a 76,500-person global corporation. (USA Today)
Sigmar Polke: Inscrutable master of the unexpected May 30, 2007
Unlike Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst or Takashi Murakami, who work hard at maintaining their movie-star allure, Polke shuns the limelight and guards his privacy. He has been known to go for months without answering his phone, opening his mail or allowing visitors into his studio. (International Herald Tribune)
Cellphones, iPods can have 'skins,' but credit cards? May 27, 2007
The first line of CreditCovers ($5 each) also included designs called Louis the XIV and Burs & Berries -- one resembles the famous pattern Takashi Murakami created for Louis Vuitton handbags, and the other has a Burberry plaid look -- attributed to a designer called The Truth (who is actually Adams). Dwelle, under the nom de art O-B-Nyce, contributed a Mexican flag design and an all-white version that makes "your credit card look like your cool, glowing-white iPod.". (Boston Globe)
Art Boom? What Art Boom? Collectors Head to Japan in Search of Bargains Mar 16, 2007
Tokyo's overlooked galleries are attracting a new generation of young, wealthy Japanese in their 30s and 40s, unfazed by the asset slump of the 1990s and encouraged by skyrocketing overseas prices for established artists like Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara and Yayoi Kusama ... Takashi Murakami's decade-old annual ``Geisai'' art festival drew 10,000 visitors in September, compared with almost 40,000 at Art Basel Miami Beach in December. (Bloomberg -- Japan)
Juggling Architecture Mar 12, 2007
They said to her, "We have these program needs, but you do your thing." Despite a "phenomenally low budget," she had the liberty to express a full range of her ideas, one of which is finding beauty in the "things that seemingly have no value." She adds, "We can take the most banal, boring material and actually invent with it. We're very interested in that kind of strategy towards architecture." TMA also just completed the first phase of a studio in Queens, New York, for Japanese artist Takashi... (BusinessWeek)
'Japanamerica' offers an intriguing picture of anime's import Dec 26, 2006
Part of that cultural identity comes from being the world's first (and so far only) "post-apocalyptic society," as artist Takashi Murakami calls it. That's why so much anime, such as Katsuhiro Otomo's classic "Akira," unfolds in the wake of widespread ruin or feature characters profoundly altered by war or other man-made disasters. (Boston Globe)
BLOCK PARTYThis holiday season, the shopping action is at the auction house Dec 2, 2006
"You won't find a little black dress here." Complementing the usual art auction suspects Damien Hirst spot etchings, Takashi Murakami Louis Vuitton screenprints, and a Jeff Koons Balloon Dog are sartorial interlopers such as the Teddy Bear coat from Franco Moschino's fall 1988 Fun Fur collection. Equally unique is Isaac Mizrahi's 7-Up shift. (Style.com)
Louis Vuitton's New Project Its holiday store windows will become contemporary art Nov 10, 2006
Posted Thursday, Nov. 09, 2006 French fashion powerhouse Louis Vuitton has had a long history of artistic collaborations--Philippe Stark, Takashi Murakami, Bob Wilson--but their latest venture is probably the riskiest yet. This morning Vuitton president Yves Carcelle announced that the company would hand over all of the holiday windows in 350 stores worldwide to a special contemporary art project created by the 39-year-old Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. (Time.com)
Then and now, art seen with Japanese aesthetics Nov 8, 2006
The husband and wife offer fresh alternatives to better-known Japanese contemporary art trends set by Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, often dubbed as "Tokyo Pop," inspired by kitsch and "manga.". Instead, the couple have been recognized as leaders of current Kansai-based artists by developing their own style. (Korea Herald, Korea)
Slides and sunbathing Nov 2, 2006
Maurizio Cattelan, Anselm Kiefer, Marlene Dumas, Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons and Matthew Barney have similar followings. The modern art masters of the first half of the 20th century never had it so good. (International Herald Tribune)
Murakami's post-modern manga on show in France Oct 2, 2006
Three proponents of Superflat - a pop-art style created by Takashi Murakami, dubbed Japan's Andy Warhol - have brought their unique brand of post-modernism to France. Their new exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum in Lyon in eastern France mixes manga inspiration with provocative eroticism. (ABC News Online, Australia)
Paul Goldberger on Daniel Libeskind Aug 25, 2006
In the largest of the temporary exhibition galleries, the architect s determination to ignore conventional notions of rooms and galleries seems to make common cause with bold, large-scale works by artists like Damien Hirst, Matthew Richie, and Takashi Murakami. Elsewhere, Libeskind s design makes for bizarre challenges: a wall that slopes away, like the side of a pyramid, has been used to display textiles the effect is winning, if faintly reminiscent of a fashion boutique and, in another... (New Yorker)
Louis Vuitton In Tokyo: First Time Ever Fashion Show Out of Paris Jun 8, 2006
Bernard Arnault, President f LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami, Artist. (PRNewsFoto/Louis Vuitton) TOKYO JAPAN 06/07/2006. (PR Newswire)
Louis Vuitton in Tokyo Jun 8, 2006
Jacobs and Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami first collaborated in 2003 to create white handbags with rainbow-colored LVs, a unique take on the classic brown logo that sparked a buying frenzy. This season, the ever-popular pattern showed up on fur messenger bags. (iAfrica.com)
Paint, by Numbers May 10, 2006
In the past two years, high prices and soaring volumes of sales caused collectors to hesitate bidding on works by Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince and Marlene Dumas. But none of those artists have lost their cachet, argues gallery owner Deitch. (SmartMoney)
Gambling and the great outdoors Apr 26, 2006
To get to Cherry, fronted by a sculpture of two cherries by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, patrons will walk through a red tunnel to pulsating music, Gerber said. "Once you get into that tunnel, you're not hearing the bells and whistles and slots of the casino," he said. (CNN -- Travel)
