Murakami

When you entered into the sunlight again after a rather arduous subway ride through Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Museum was a welcomed first sight. On Sunday June 8, I had the privileged opportunity to visit this museum the day before I left for India. It was so worth it.

For a mere $8.oo with valid student I.D. I gained access to both a small exhibit on Ukiyo-e prints and the Murakami exhibit.

The Ukiyo-e print exhibit was well laid out and showcased works from the Utagawa school of art. With prints by Utamaro, Hiroshige I and II, Toyokuni and Kuniyoshi, this exhibit was mandatory for the Japanese art lover. I found myself staring at color prints of Kabuki actors and Japanese fables illustrated. There was also a nice little section on the naughty Ukiyo-e prints.

One interesting fact that I picked up from the excellent corresponding posters and text panels was that Hiroshige actually coined the term "manga" in the 19th century to mean "lazy drawing". Easily identifiable are the strict parallels that can be drawn between these Ukiyo-e masters and today's contempories in Manga.

This exhibit conveniently prefaced Murakami's show. Ironically (or not), Murakami was trained in the traditional art of Japan before breaking through and coining a phrase of his own: "Superflat". The Brooklyn Museum utilized Murakami's art historical theory of Superflat and gave it a proper display.

Upon entering the show on the fifth floor, one met Miss Ko2. Wearing what mimicked a waitress suit with blonde hair, large perky breasts and legs that never end, she stood eager and willing to please. The figure is an embodiment of the otaku subculture in Japan. As with Hiropan and Second Mission Miss Ko2, who appeared later in the exhibit, Murakami explores his own cultural misgivings. The otaku is characterized as “lonely and psychologically disturbed…[one] who exemplif[ies] the ‘murderous and anti-social…’"*. Imagine a young boy in front of his WOW game on the computer all day. His feminine ideal is warped. With these unreal femmes, Murakami draws from the otaku fantasy creations while making social commentary on a culture, perhaps, too connected by machinery--or not connected at all.

Moving into the center of this part of the show, one was drawn to three figures suspended on a circular plate. Meet Second Mission Ko2. This was, by far my favourite piece in the show. Murakami portrays Ko2 with blue hair, naked breasts, torso and genitals and cyborg legs and arms. Move to the second figure of Second Mission Ko2, and you saw that she was transforming like a...well, Transformer. Her breast plate (which extended down to her naked vagina) was lifting outward toward the viewer so the viewer was forced to meet head on with her bare prepubescent genitalia. Hard to notice much else when a resin clitoris is in your face, but examining the work, you could almost hear engines decompressing and gears pumping. Moving to the third and final figure, she had finally morphed into a jet. Rainbow wings and colored arms and legs that folded up nicely to create a masculine piece of machinery. A comment on the (manufactured and undervalued) role of women in Japanese society or coincidence? I think the former, not the later.

The next exciting piece of the gallery was immediately to the right upon entering the center circle. Behind a wall you were introduced to Murakami's animated creations: Kanye West's music video and his own "guardians" (as they've been dubbed) Kaikai and Kiki. Kaikai and Kiki star in 10-11 minute short films with both pathos and bathos. Also, you got to preview Murakami's live action film "Dharma" set to appear summer 2009. I won't give anything away (actually, there isn't much to give away, as there was no real dialogue in the preview), but it is definitely going to be exciting! Murakami truly has his eggs in many baskets.

Moving on, once you got past this initial gallery, you entered into a fully functioning store that sold Louis Vuitton bags. Luscious. That's all I have to say. But, if you didn't already know, Carl Lagerfeld (LV fashion designer) asked Murakami to collaborate with him on LV Bags a while back, thus those crazy eyeballs and bright colors you see on LV nowadays: Murakami's doing.

After being "oooed and ahhhed" by the beautiful Louis Vuitton bags, you moved into a room where you were surrounded by daisy faces. And I do mean literally surrounded because the walls have sheets of daisy face wallpaper on them. Not an inch of white wall is showing (imagine the work that went into that!). In the middle is a resin sculpture of Daisy faces and other kawaii things while more paintings adorn the wall. One truly feels Murakami's idea of "Superflat" in this room.

Next stop is the fourth floor. Down here, you met Hiropon and her counterpart My Lonesome Cowboy and more depictions of Kaikia and Kiki. (If you aren't already familiar with Hiropon, she was on display at the Denver Art Museum two summers ago for the contemporary art exhibit. She was the naked one with pink hair and obscene breasts squirting a circle of milk around herself. But we didn't get to see her companion because the DAM thought it too sexually provacative...hmmm....wacky ethics, anyone? Oh, and another quick side note: The Logan's were lending a piece to this show, too--wow!) One painting that stood out to me in this bit of the exhibit...the title currently escapes me, I apologize, was very large and depicted Kaikai spewing the most colorful and beautiful bile out of her sharp-toothed mouth as Kiki stood in the corner with Japanese prayer flags on a hill. (I'm leaving out a LOT of detail for this picture, here). It was, by far, the most violent work in the show and speaks directly to Japan's rather recent war history. Something which Murakami draws on profusely.

Exiting the show, there was a gift store where you could drop $42.oo on a t-shirt or $100.oo on daisy face pillows or $65.oo on the show's catalog. I imagine Murakami sits laughing all day in his studio as people pay outrageous prices for his mass manufactured works. How's that for art of the 21st century?

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