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ART TOYS: TAKASHI MURAKAMI AND THE SECRETS OF SMILING FLOWERS
ART TOYS: TAKASHI MURAKAMI AND THE SECRETS OF SMILING FLOWERS
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Murakami was born into a poor Tokyo family in 1962. His father worked as a taxi driver, his mother was a housewife. Despite financial difficulties, his parents tried to develop their child and every Sunday they took him to different exhibitions. Paintings by Western artists were often brought to postwar Japan. One of Takashi’s vivid memories was a painting by Francisco Goya “Saturn devouring his son”. Little Takashi saw a real «monster». This image was haunting and kept him up for many years. This profound experience, or trauma, taught him that if work doesn’t move people and induce a “wow!” then it’s all for nothing.
Since then, monsters and fairy tale characters have settled in the imagination of the future artist. They lived in a bright and colorful world, like in manga and anime, very different from the Tokyo of the 70s, with its trauma of the tragic history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Murakami has not personally faced such an experience, yet he has always felt the fear of a repeat of a nuclear explosion. That is why the theme of apocalypse and death is one of the main ones in the artist’s work.
After returning to Japan, Takashi Murakami created the art-factory “Hiropon”. It was the name of a Japanese synthetic drug that was first used “in the needs of the army,” for example, to improve visual acuity during night watch. Later the artist renamed the company Kaikai Kiki. The aim of the art-factory was to support and promote artworks by some of Japan’s contemporary artists. Takashi has been called the “Warhol of Japan”.
Mr. Dob
Mr. Dob is one of the main characters in the Murakami universe and his alter ego. He emerged as a kind of response to the artists Barabara Kruger and Jenny Holzer, who like to play with words in their works. If you look carefully, you will see, that there’s a D on the left ear, a B on the right, and an O between them, a round head: the letters add up to the name DOB, which was short for the Japanese colloquial expression “dobojite, dobojite, oshamanbe” – “why? why?”. The first two words are taken from the Japanese manga «Inakappe Taisho», and the third (without any meaning) is from the comedian Toru Yuri’s repertoire.
It was important for Takashi to promote Japanese culture. He believed that the art promoted by American artists was totally unsuitable for the Japanese and that this ridiculous imitation of their art should be stopped.
Kaikai and Kiki
This vinyl couple was inspired by the name of Murakami’s brand. Kaikai is a smiling and kind white creature with rabbit ears, while Kiki is a mischievous friend with a pink body, small ears, three eyes, and a mischievous smile that highlights her fangs. They have been released in blue eyes edition and green eyes edition. Inscribed on their ears in Japanese characters, their name Kaikai Kiki, which can be translated as «supernatural, weird», refers to a Japanese phrase that appeared in the 16th century to describe the works of the painter Kano Eitoku. Interesting fact: if you swap the syllables, you get “kiki kaikai” – “Mysterious Ghost World”. It was the name of a Japanese video game from 1986, in which the main character encounters strange monsters from Japanese mythology.
These toys are complete must have for fans and collectors.
Smiling Flowers
They have become a symbol of pop culture. Plush Flowers, painted Flowers… all full with colour and always smiling. But what’s behind those smiles? In 2005 the Murakami revealed in a New York Times article that his smiling Flowers were a manifestation of the repressed emotions and collective trauma experienced by Japanese residents after the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings. Murakami wanted to shine a light on what happened and how this catastrophe still affects some in Japan today. And if you look closely, you can see hidden tears in the eyes of Murakami’s Flowers.
Time Bokan
The theme of the nuclear explosion disaster is also reflected in another of Murakami’s characters – Time Bokan. It’s a mushroom cloud in the shape of a skull and it was taken from the 1975 anime series of the same name. A splash screen with nuclear mushroom with the outline of a skeleton appeared at the end of every episode of the anime
Mushrooms
The mutant mushroom with many eyes refers to the horror film “Matango” by Ishiro Honda, author of the first “Godzilla” film, which built its story around a mutated mushroom that grew as a result of a radiation attack
It’s difficult to talk about Takashi Murakami without mentioning the term “Superflat” that he invented in 2001. Superflat is a postmodern art movement founded by Takashi Murakami. Superflat is inspired by Japan’s rich history of “flat” pictorial art and also influenced by manga and anime 2D images, which are both important to Japan’s culture. Murakami believes that Japanese culture has been defined by the flattening between high art and low art. In addition to Takashi Murakami, the major artists considered Superflat are: Yoshitomo, Chiho Aoshima, Mahomi Kunikata, Sayuri Mishima and Aya Takano.
Despite the popularity of all Murakami’s characters, his most famous work is the sculpture My Lonesome Cowboy (1998). In May 2008, it was sold for more than 15 million dollars at Christie’s auction. And Murakami became one of the most expensive living artists in the world.
His works were presented in the largest museums of the world. In 2010, Murakami held an exhibition at the Château de Versailles, near Paris. Takashi presented 22 sculptures and paintings, 11 of which were made especially for the event. It was a very scandalous exhibition that was even condemned by some activists.
Vibrant art of Takashi Murakami attracts top brands like: Comme Des Garçons, Supreme, UNIQLO, Virgil Abloh and Louis Vuitton.
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