Homage to Francis Bacon (Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer [on light ground]), 2016. Acrylic and platinum and gold leaf on canvas mounted on aluminum frame, Each:39 ⅜ x 39 ⅜ in. Photo: Claire Dorn. © 2016 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. All images courtesy the artist and Galerie Perrotn
Skulls and self-repeating, mise en abyme-style imagery figure prominently into a collection of abstract-meets-traditional artwork at a new solo exhibition at Galerie Perrotin. Japanese media artist Takashi Murakami has developed a signature voice, creating loud, brilliant pieces of Neo-Pop art influenced by Japanese culture and street-art acknowledgments. Keeping to his brash and playful aesthetic, the artist floods the Parisian gallery space with his circle-driven collection of paintings, flush with hyper-saturated, stippled color. The solo show also will include new triptychs, diptychs, as well as sculptural elements.In the show, Learning the Magic of Painting, the artist dives into a creative process where he takes his doctoral training in Nihonga painting and combines it with his interest in the art of Francis Bacon. Murakami is also known to channel his artistic alter ego, Mr. Dob, who “[morphs] its own form, and whose ambivalent personality shifts from friendly to fierce, seemingly at will,” according to a gallery description.The artist speaks a little about his process in an English-French translation with Galerie Perrotin: “The works for this show, then, are also the records of my learning along the way. I have been working my way in earnest, but I am still far from arriving at the essence of my magic. But I believe each of the works contains some fragments of my] essence—even if they turn out to be tragedies—I choose to believe so anyway. Will I really manage to create the magic circle that can summon.”To learn more about Takashi Murakami’s solo show at Galerie Perrotin, visit the exhibit’s page here. The show runs until December 23, 2016 in Paris.Related:Takashi Murakami On Nuclear Monsters and Buddhist DamnationGet Up Close With Takashi Murakami’s Personal Art CollectionFacing Darkness? Rainbow-Bright Collages Will Fix That
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