The Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is fast becoming one of the important figures in today’s art world. His style: cartoon-like, manga-related pop with an edge. His work is a take on the Japanese oversexed pop culture and he uses the typical shapes and colors of this culture to make it.
I saw two of his best known sculptures in an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2001, they are fantastic. Life size manga-like figures, smooth and bright. ‘Hiropon’ is a girl with huge breasts; she holds her nipples and milk spurts out of it. She uses the string of milk as a skipping rope. The breasts are out of proportion and in sharp contrast with the youthly face. ‘My Lonesome Cowboy’ has the same thing going on: a guy holding his erect penis, with spunk going like a lasso in a wide circle all around his head. Both sculptures have an amazing energy and happiness about them, which even enlarges the impact they have.
Check out Murakami’s website for more examples of his fantastic graphic art and 3D works, featuring the DOB character he created. He also created the hugely popular new take on the classic Luis Vuitton canvas.
http://www.takashimurakami.com/biography.php
