The reason why artist Takashi Murakami laments that he is “hated in Japan” and the “art and money” that have taken the world by storm through anime, otaku, and kawaii.Thinking about the 90th anniversary exhibition “Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto” of the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (1/5) | JBpress

Thinking about the 90th anniversary exhibition “Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto” of Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art

Takashi Murakami is one of the most famous Japanese artists overseas, popular for his work on anime and otaku culture. His anime figure-like sculpture was sold for 1.6 billion yen, and his collaboration with Louis Vuitton is also a hot topic. However, for some reason even he laments that “It’s not as popular in Japan as it is in the rest of the world.” At his first solo exhibition in Japan in eight years, he pondered the reason for this.

(Mayako Sawada: Editing and writing)

＞＞[Click here for photo gallery]Exhibition works of “Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto”

“Murakami of the World”‘s first solo exhibition in Japan in 8 years covers the budget shortfall with hometown tax payments

On February 3, when Takashi Murakami’s solo exhibition “Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto” opened, there was a line of 2,000 people, including some who stayed up all night, at the Kyocera Museum of Art, Kyoto. Special trading cards were distributed to the first 50,000 people. It became a hot topic on social media as some resellers were said to have engaged in problematic behavior just for the card.

Takashi Murakami at the opening ceremony. “Artists are clowns,” he declared.He wears a character hat and poses playfully, which seems to be an antithesis to the general public’s image of a noble artist.

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This trading card is an original product created as a return gift for the “Hometown Tax” program in cooperation with Kyoto City. Because the production costs for the exhibition were insufficient, Murakami proposed hometown tax payments. By the day before the event, 300 million yen in support had been raised.

This is the first time that hometown tax payments have been used to support an art exhibition. In his opening speech, Murakami said, “I took on the hometown tax system after learning that Horiemon was using it to raise funds for a rocket project.I believe that a special tax system is the most effective way to promote Japanese culture. This is a system that is open to everyone and has been approved by the Japanese people.I am proud to have created the first example of this system that people from all over the world can use to keep their museums afloat. , I want you to pay close attention to that area.”

The artist, who is affiliated with a top New York gallery and has been attracting attention for many years in a world with many ups and downs, wears a hat that resembles a character he made himself and talks to guests about how to make money, a performance typical of Murakami. Murakami has always incorporated geek culture into his works, stirred up discomfort in the art world, and continued to provocatively discuss the taboo subject of “art and money.”

Murakami continues to hold exhibitions all over the world, but this is his first solo exhibition in Japan in eight years. Its scale is overwhelming.

In the central hall of the museum, there are 4m tall statues of A and U. The 6.5m-wide masterpiece “Rakuchu Rakugai Zu Iwasa Matabei rip” was created by a team of staff with experience as manga assistants, and was created with multilayered visual stimulation, including coloring and a skull pattern on gold leaf. , I feel like I’m going to be sucked in (many photos on the next page).