Art is visual anthropology, too... Because of my sign language interest, I collect art dealing with hands. I'd like to buy these but fear they would take up too much space in my house... 
(Images borrowed from New York Times slide show, April 2, 2008)The article, written by Carol Vogel, discusses Murakami's exhibition and begins:
The fifth-floor rotunda of the Brooklyn Museum on a recent afternoon was strewn with a curious array of body parts. Resting on a mover’s blanket was most of “Miss ko2,” a busty blond waitress whose jellyfish eyes stared up at the ceiling (and whose white-painted fiberglass bosom pointed skyward too). Nearby, her counterpart from “Second Mission Project ko2” (pronounced ko-ko) balanced on one leg.
Read the article at The New York Times web page:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/arts/design/02mura.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin
Be sure to view the slide show for more photos.
Check out Murakami's own web page:
http://www.takashimurakami.com/index.php
2 comments:
Murakami's probably had the greatest success as a Japanese artist in terms of getting his name out in America. Already he's done several of Kanye West's CD covers, and he's been on tour, I think with help from Viz Media, in New York and San Francisco.
What do you think about Murakami's work as a representation of Japanese culture? His work is oftentimes very sexually-oriented, and I get the feeling like he's expressing things that many Japanese people feel, but don't actively talk about.
"When I consider what Japanese culture is like, the answer is that it all is subculture. Therefore, art is unnecessary." - Takashi Murakami
Quote from http://www.takashimurakami.com/art.php
To be honest, I am not familiar enough with his work to give an informed answer. The stuff of his I have seen sometimes remind me of other Japanese art. And he is Japanese... I think "art" is where the tension between culture and the individual is the most intense, and interesting.
Are you suggesting that Japanese people don't talk about sex? Given the proper setting, I have found many of my Japanese friends (male and female) to be sukebe (no value judgments intended by the use of this term).
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