NEW
YORK, NY.- In his distinctive “Superflat” style, which employs
highly refined classical Japanese painting techniques to depict a super-charged
mix of Pop, animé and otaku content within a flattened representational
picture-plane, Murakami moves freely within an ever-expanding field of aesthetic
issues and cultural inspirations. Parallel to the familiar utopian and
dystopian themes that feature masses of smiling flowers, elaborate scenes of
toonish apocalypse, and the ever-morphing cult figures of DOB, Mr. Pointy,
Kaikai and Kiki, he recollects and revitalizes narratives of transcendence and
enlightenment, often involving outsider-savants. Mining religious and secular
subjects favored by the so-called Japanese “eccentrics” or non-conformist
artists of the Early Modern era commonly considered to be counterpart to the
Western Romantic tradition, Murakami situates himself within their legacy of
bold and lively individualism in a manner that is entirely his own and of his
time. On view at Gagsosian Gallery through 24th October,
2009.