Takashi MURAKAMI

Name: Homage to Yves Klein
Start: 2011-10-20
End: 2012-01-07
Location: Perrotin

Homage to Yves Klein

solo show

October 20, 2011 - January 7, 2012

paris

10 IMPASSE SAINT CLAUDE 75003 PARIS

artist info

press release

With the kind support of All Nippon Airways

1 405 people attended the opening.
16 724 people attended the exhibition.
The exhibition was open for 56 days.
Daily average 299 visitors per day including opening, 279 per day excluding opening.

Through 11 paintings, 9 of which have been created for the show, Takashi Murakami juxtaposes his work directly with Klein’s, producing monochromes in the same size as the originals. The gallery will also exhibit 3 small Klein monochromes especially for this occasion («Untitled Blue Monochrome (IKB 67)», «Untitled Monogold (MG 8)», «Untitled Pink Monochrome (MP19)» and 3 sponge reliefs). Both artists have made the pursuit of perfection and the absolute the focal point of their work.

This is not the first time that Murakami has evoked Klein’s legacy in his work. in 1991, Murakami painted monochromes which reflected the influence of Klein’s research («Azure»). In 1995, he made a silver and gold-leafed triptych which echoed the Klein monochromes while also evoking the wonderful backgrounds of traditional Japanese art. In 2006, he applied the imprint of his body on canvas, in the manner of anthropométries, before covering it with mesmerizing and energizing colored squares («Acupuncture Paintings»).
With these Monochromes, Takashi Murakami is also taking up the time-old theme of Vanities. The works present accumulations of skulls and flowers, dizzying towards infinity where the pattern fades away in its own abstract repetition.

A Doctor in Nihonga painting from the University of Arts in Tokyo, Takashi Murakami developed a unique protean style of the most modern techniques associated with the precision and virtuosity of traditional Japanese art and that of the Ukiyo-e engraving (pictures of the floating world) in particular. Inspired by Manga and Kawai (cuteness) culture, his irresistible world is peopled by monstrous and charming characters, facetious descendents of past myths. His theory of the Superflat aesthetic, which he introduced in 2000, attempts to blur the frontiers between popular art and grand art. The absence of perspective, the two-dimensionality of ancient art, filters in to every support – painting, sculpture, prints/silk-screens, wallpaper, animation films and accessories.
Since his first monographic exhibition outside Japan in 1995 at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Murakami has become recognized as one of the most prominent contemporary artists of his time, and his work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions at museums and art institutions throughout the world, including The Meaning of the Nonsense of the Meaning in New York at the Center for Curatorial Studies Museum, Bard College in 1999, P.S.1 in Long Island City, NY (2000), Grand Central Station in 2001, the Fondation Cartier and the Serpentine Gallery in 2002, the Rockefeller Center in 2003, and recently in the traveling retrospective ©MURAKAMI, shown first at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2007, then followed by shows at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK) in Frankfurt, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. In 2010, France’s renowned Château de Versailles organized an important solo exhibition of his works on the palace grounds.

On display for the exhibition are also be 4 prints produced by Murakami following the solo show he had at Versailles last year. Each one a different installation view of emblematic sculptures of this show.
©2011 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Perrotin

Left: "Monopink Untitled (MP19)", ca. 1962 / Dry pigment and synthetic resin on fabric on panel / 92 x 72 cm / 36 1/4 x 28 1/2 inches / Unique
Middle: "Monochrome Blue Untitled (IKB 67)", 1959 / Dry pigment and synthetic resin on fabric on panel / 92 x 73 cm / 36 1/2 x 28 3/4 inches / Unique
Right: "Monogold Untitled (MG 8)", 1962 / Dry pigment, gold leaf and synthetic resin on fabric on panel / 91,5 x 73 cm / 36 x 28 3/4 inches / Unique
©2011 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Perrotin

Left: "MPGMP, 1960->2011", 2011 / Acrylic on canvas mounted on board / 199 x 153 cm / 6.6 feet x 60 1/4 inches / Unique
Middle: "MCBST, 1960->2011", 2011 / Acrylic on canvas mounted on board / 199 x 153 cm / 6.6 feet x 60 1/4 inches / Unique
Right: "MGF, 1960->2011", 2011 / Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas mounted on board / 199 x 153 cm / 6.6 feet x 60 1/4 inches / Unique
©2011 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Perrotin

Left: "MCRST, 1962→2011", 2011 / Acrylic on canvas / mounted on board 92 x 72 cm / 36 1/4 x 28 1/2 inches / Unique
Middle:"MCBST,1959→2011", 2011 / Acrylic on canvas mounted on board / 92 x 73 cm / 36 1/4 x 28 3/4 inches / Unique
Right: "MGST, 1962→2011", 2011 / Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas mounted on board / 81,5 x 72 cm / 32 x 28 1/2 inches / Unique
©2011 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Perrotin

Left: "RE 32 Pink Sponge Relief", 1961 / pure pigment with synthetic resin, natural sponges and pebbles on wood panel / 90 x 78 x 7 cm / 35 1/2 x 30 3/4 x 2 3/4 inches / Unique
Middle: "RE 39 Do, do, do" (Blue Sponge Relief), 1960 / pure pigment with synthetic resin, natural sponges and pebbles on board / 93x74x7cm/361/2x291/4inches / Unique
Right:"RE 33 Gold Ball", 1960 / pure pigment with synthetic resin, gold leaf, natural sponges and pebbles on wood panel / 89x74 x15,5cm/35x291/4x6inches / Unique
©2011 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Perrotin

Left: "IKB MBST, 1960->2011", 2011 / Acrylic on canvas mounted on board / 199 x 153 cm / 6.6 feet x 60 1/4 inches / Unique Right: "Azure", 1991 / Natural mineral pigment, hide glue, japanese washi paper on wooden panel / 140 x 130 x 4,5 cm / 55 1/4 x 51 1/4 x 1 3/4 inches / Unique
©2011 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Perrotin

Left: "Rose II", 1995 / Gold and silver on wood, lacquer / 43,5 x 32 cm (x 3) / 17 1/4 x 12 inches (x 3) / Unique
Right: "An Homage to IKB, 1957 B", 2011 / Acrylic and platinum leaf on canvas mounted on aluminum frame / 78 x 56 cm / 30 3/4 x 22 inches / Unique
"An Homage to IKB, 1957 C", 2011 / Acrylic and platinum leaf on canvas mounted on aluminum frame / 78 x 56 cm / 30 3/4 x 22 inches / Unique
©2011 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Perrotin