The Warhol of Japan – Takashi Murakami in NYC

Most of you should have heard already about the visit of Takashi Murakami in New York City. Right now he is holding an exhibition at the famous Gagosian Gallery on Madison Avenue.
“These days Mr. Murakami’s tentacles reach far and wide. In Japan he is busy producing feature-length animated films, and he is already considered a media king there, with a television and a radio show on which he interviews everyone from world-famous economists to novelists. A marketing impresario, he teamed up with the fashion house Louis Vuitton in 2003 to create brightly colored versions of the classic LV monogram on Vuitton handbags. They flew off the shelves, generating millions of dollars.

Now Mr. Murakami is looking back in history. His inaugural exhibition at Gagosian, “Tranquillity of the Heart, Torment of the Flesh: Open Wide the Eye of the Heart and Nothing Is Invisible,” is the first public showing of his new series of monumental paintings of Daruma, the sage, grand patriarch of Zen art and founder of Zen Buddhism. In certain Japanese Zen monasteries, Mr. Murakami said, the tea ceremony is still carried out in its original form to honor Daruma.”
The New York Times is covering his latest exhibition explaining the different kind of works and influences. Definitely a good read, so check it out here.
The exhibition goes until June 9th, so if you are around, don’t miss it!