The exuberance of Japanese manga signed by Takashi Murakami – named by Time as one of the most influential artist of the Japanese culture – is exhibited in Capri from 9 July to 31 August 2017.
The exhibition at the gallery AICA Andrea Ingenito Contemporary Art is titled “Murakami. Jap Pop in Capri” exhibits twenty silk-screen prints representing the artist’s career characterized by the union of the Japanese traditional painting and the Pop Culture, the Otaku phenomenon – the Japanese teenage myth – and his typical Superflat aesthetic.
Are also exhibited works of young exponents of Japanese pop whose style is inspired by Murakami.
Pop Art remains the protagonist at the AICA gallery, after the success achieved in 2016 with the show “Andy Warhol. Summer Pop Capri”, this year chose Murakami.
Puppets, cartoon, flowers and drawings that look like cartoons, jellyfish eyes, bright colors: these are the characteristic features of Murakami’s works, an artist able to interpret to the images of the Orient.
Raised in a society deeply marked by the consequences of the atomic attack of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – its colorful and joyful world seems to be always pivoted on the issues of destruction and death, he soon departs from the canons of traditional art to looking at the Otaku (a term that indicates the fans of manga and anime) and the Kawaii (cute, loving) an expression of the turmoil, obsession and perversion of the Japanese after the war.
This consummate and fetishist culture, according to Murakami, has recovered a distinctive sign of ancient Japanese art: the traditional bi-dimensionality of the Edo period.
From the union between the two-dimensionality and manga iconography, Murakami develops his programmatic manifesto: the aesthetics of the Superflat: a singular “flat effect” in which a set of elements clears any prospect and every possible interstitial, obliging the observer to look a fixed and foreign look.
Particularly significant is the work And then, and then, and then, and then, and then, exposed in Capri, the protagonist is the iconic puppet Mr. Bob, a character of Kawaii’s aesthetic philosophy.
According to the artist he is a metaphor of the postmodern Japanese people, a childhood society that has not been able to overcome the trauma that the defeat suffered in World War II and the subsequent US occupation caused.
In the work titled Tokyo Tower the artist is represent himself who, in a self-portrait cartoon, looks from afar off the imposing tower of Tokyo, together with his usual characters. Is a strong colored work that expresses the discomfort of a generation through the contrast between the vivacity of the drawing and the effect of flatness that overwhelms the spectator.
Murakami is often associated with Andy Warhol for the common inspiration to mass culture and iconography. Like his American predecessor, the Japanese artist understands that art can be transformed into business, and in 1996 he founded the Hiropon Factory, today Kaikai Kiki Co. Ltd.
In this factory Murakami realizes his own Philosophy of Work. Perfectionism, discipline, and rigor are aimed at an no-stop activity that leads him to ever more ambitious goals and ever higher earnings.
He realizes dizzying figures by experimenting with diverse techniques, capturing unexpressed trends, but living as a monk without consuming anything for himself, to continue investing in his factory.
There are many collaborations with the celebrities of the international jet set.
In 2003, he realized with the designer Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton the bag Cherry Blossom; in 2008 he works with Pharrel Williams at the work titled The Simple Things; in 2009 he realized a music video with Kirsten Dunst.
Magnets, posters, toys, smartphone cases, and any other kind of gadget signed by Murakami is successfully marketed largely in the world by canceling the difference between “high” art and “low” art.
Useful Information
Title Murakami. Jap Pop in Capri
Location AICA Andrea Ingenito Contemporary Art | Via Le Botteghe 56, Capri
Opening sabato 8 luglio 2017, ore 18.30
Date 9 luglio 2017 – 31 agosto 2017
Opening hours da martedì a domenica, h. 18 – 22.30
Free Admission libero
Info 081.0490829 | www.ai-ca.com | info@ai-ca.com
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