Takashi Murakami, recently at Art Basel Hong Kong, talks about his major upcoming retrospective in Moscow
The artist will use exhibition in Russia this autumn to show the connections between his ‘superflat’ work and classical Japanese art
The world portrayed by Takashi Murakami is so culturally specific and bewildering that the artist says he finds it quite odd his art seems more popular outside his country than in.
“I am very surprised that when I research my Instagram to see which city responds to my posts the most, number one is New York, number two is Los Angeles, number three is London, number four is Hong Kong and number five is Seoul. Why no Japan? That is my big question,” he said last month in Hong Kong.
The Japanese artist was in town during Art Basel week to promote his upcoming exhibition at Moscow’s Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. The first Murakami retrospective in Russia will open in September and it is the latest, and probably most extensive, international museum show to put the artist-cum-art historian in context.
The 55-year-old takes a proactive approach to helping others comprehend his art, which, he says, requires some understanding of Japanese history and the country’s bizarre, contemporary subcultures. In 2000, he coined the term “superflat” to describe the kind of art, inspired by anime, manga and pop culture, that he is best known for. Also that year, he curated a touring exhibition in the US to promote the genre.
