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| “A picture of lives wriggling in the forest at the deep end of the universe” / “Portrait of Shennong” / “Lion seated on its throne” 2015 |
Offering more than 40 recent works, some never seen before,
including include an entirely new series of diptychs and triptychs inspired by
the work of mid-20th century master Francis Bacon, Takashi Murakami will soon
take over Galerie Perrotin’s three exhibition spaces in Paris with a new solo
exhibition: “Learning the Magic of Painting.”
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| “The Moon Over the Ruined Castle”, 2015 |
The Japanese pop art artist had already paid homage to Bacon
in 2002 through two paintings and the new works once again focus on tortured
figures which incorporate motifs and characters that have defined Murakami’s practice.
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| “A picture of lives wriggling in the forest at the deep end of the universe” / “The Four Heavenly Kings” / “Castle in the clouds” / “The advent of Tathāgata” 2015 |
Some of the works presented were last displayed at
Murakami’s retrospective, “Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats” at the Mori Art
Museum in Tokyo in 2015. These include a monumental multi-panel painting, “A
Picture of Lives Wriggling in the Forest at the Deep End of the Universe”
(2015), which feature many of Murakami’s distinctive characters from a dragon
and a panda to his alter ego Mr. DOB. The Arhats were the 500 wise followers of
Buddha, who attained enlightenment, and they inspired Kano Kazunobu to create a
100-scroll series after the 1855 Edo Ansei earthquake to which Murakami
responded after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, an event which profoundly
affected the artist and triggered a new direction in his work.
Galerie Perrotin’s multi-site exhibition will also feature
works from Murakami’s “Ensō” series, inspired by one of the most famous motifs
in Japanese Zen painting, the circle and which is executed here using spray
paint over the artist’s iconic accumulations of colorful flowers and skulls.
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| “Dragon Heads - Gold” 2015 |
The exhibition will run from September 10 through December
23, 2016