Takashi Murakami Solo Exhibition at MOT

The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo has presented many exhibitions by individual artists from Japan and other countries. This year the first of the twenty first century, we are pleased to present the work of Takashi Murakami, an artist who has gained a world-wide reputation for boldly breaking new ground in the interval between popular culture and contemporary art.

Takashi Murakami (born 1962) earned a doctor's degree in the nihonga, or Japanese-style painting, at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, virtually assuring his future as a painter in this sector of the Japanese art world. However, in the early 1990s, while still a student, he decided to abandon the traditional styles of Japanese painting and try his hand in the more innovative field of contemporary art. Murakami adopted a variety of contemporary art approaches but applied them in an ironic way to reveal the narrow and sterile outlook of much contemporary art. Beginning around 1993, he began making paintings and sculptures featuring his original cartoon character, Mr. DOB, straightforwardly incorporating the subcultural genres of manga and anime (cartoons and animated films) and the otaku (nerd) culture of Japanese youth which supports them. This work eventually earned high praise at home and abroad as a form of pop art reflecting the current state of Japanese culture. In the latter half of the 1990s, Murakami began receiving opportunities to show his work overseas, and at present he is seen as a representative artist of his generation internationally as well as in Japan. He has also gained attention for other activities that suggest the possibilities of future art, organizing a young artists' group, Hiropon Factory, to develop new talent and publishing his provocative views on Japanese art and culture in the book SUPERFLAT.

The current exhibition is the largest ever devoted to the work of this artist. With a number of collateral events planned, you can expect to see new types of entertainment, full of youthful energy, that are appropriate to the first year of the new century and indicate the future direction of art.

Exhibition Title
Takashi Murakami Solo Exhibition at MOT
Period
August 25 - November 4, 2001
Closed
Mondays (except September 24, October 1 & 8), September 25 and October 9
Opening Hours
10:00 - 18:00 (Tickets available until 30 minutes before closing)
＊Friday / Saturday until 21: 00 (Tickets available until 20:30)
Organized by
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo / Tokyo Metropoiltan Board of Education
Special Assistance by
CANON INC.
Assisted by
Kaiyodo Co., Ltd. / Sharp Corporation / Japan Airlines / Marunuma Art Park
Supported by
Asahi Shimbun Foundation
Co-produced with
Kaikaikiki Co., Ltd.