Murakami Takashi

Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong
Acquired by the present owner from the above

This work is generally in good condition.
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Balancing High and Low
Murakami Takashi 

Grinning daisy upon grinning daisy edge into crisp blue skies, as amorphous eyeballs scatter themselves indiscriminately on large canvases. Such is the mesmerising Superflat world of Murakami Takashi, the Japanese artist that has been repeatedly referred to as Japan’s very own Andy Warhol. Murakami’s universe is one populated by adorable creatures of various shapes and sizes, their kawaii factor having become synonymous with their loveable creator himself. Murakami’s sculpture, Panda Geant (Lot 1069) is no different, and features the parent and child duo, Panda Geant and Petit Panda, who bring to life Murakami’s imagined universe. The two figurines forming this endearing sculpture are also key characters in two of the artist’s cartoon series, created in collaboration with Louis Vuitton in 2003 and 2009.

 

In 2002, the then creative director of Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs invited Murakami to design for the brand’s accessories line. Murakami had already been producing his own line of Kaikai Kiki (formerly Hiropon Factory) merchandise products through his studio since 1996 as part of his own practice in commercial design, that functioned to complement his large-scale figurines made famous in 1998. For Louis Vuitton, the artist worked with Jacobs to draw upon signature seasonal motifs from Japan. The result was an array of pink cherry blossoms, clovers, red cherries alongside the artist’s signature pop-colours to update the brand’s brown canvas monogram, and a second Monogramouflage Collection (in 2008) inspired by the military camouflage patterns. In addition to the merchandise, the artist also created black or white square canvases with gridded patterns of singular motifs. Murakami not only established himself as a designer in the world of high fashion, but also brought critical attention to the merging worlds of fashion and fine art.

 

For this collaboration, Murakami developed for the accessories line two new LV mascots, one of which is Panda, which first appeared in 2003. With signature Murakami eyes (Jellyfish Eyes) and purple and moss green Louis Vuitton clovers on their ears, Panda Geant and Petit Panda are charming figures who greet their viewers with large bellies and plump round faces, dozing peacefully.  According to the artist, this pair are spirit residents of an otherworldly dimension, a “monogram multicolore world, and together, they tour through time and space.”

 

These characters are featured in Murakami’s animation, Superflat Monogram (2003) created for the opening of the new accessories line. In this wonderfully whimsical story, a young girl, Tomoko is standing in front of a glass building where she encounters a larger-than-life Panda. As she looks up at him, he proceeds to consume her and she quickly finds herself on an adventure inside the animal’s body. Much like Alice tumbles down the Rabbit Hole, Tomoko journeys through an abyss-like time machine swirling with thousands of LV logos, clovers, and cherry blossoms. Tomoko leaps and bounces from one logo to the next while eventually landing inside Mr. Pointy, a figure with a diamond-winged body and rings swirling about his pin-shaped head, watching as a jellyfish blows a massive dust of charms. His body grows into the LV symbol and a closed hand appears as it spreads open to reveal her cell phone. She takes hold of the phone and takes shots of herself floating in this dynamic environment and sends pictures to friends around the world who proceed to ask her where she has been. She finds herself in a daze standing in front of the Louis Vuitton store discovering that this was all a daydream. Her friends quickly come and scold her for being late and while they scurry off, a bamboo leaf falls from the fold of her flip phone and a photo of smiling panda appears on her screen.

 

The Pandas also feature in the next Louis Vuitton and Murakami collaboration video, Superflat First Love (2009), which was created in celebration of the artist and the fashion house’s sixth year of partnership. It was in 2009, and in collaboration with this video that the two sculptures featured in this sale are created. In this subsequent short video, Tomoko re-enters the Superflat world after being swallowed by Petit Panda. Free-falling through a magical dimension with Mr Pointy, Panda Geant and Petit Panda, Tomoko flies back in time to 1897, eventually popping out of a signature LV travel case, arduously being crafted by a young Louis Vuitton designer. After recording a video on her phone of Petit Panda in the arms of the designer, the trio disappear into a glowing magic case, which Tomoko ends up standing in front of in present day Japan. Similar to the previous video, she receives a call from her friends, only to catch a glimpse of the young designer walking into the LV store, while Panda Geant munches on a stalk of bamboo atop a house. As with Tomoko’s last encounter, it is uncertain if it was all a dream.

 

More critically, Panda Geant is distinctive for being a physicalisation of the artist’s signature “superflat” style onto an entirely new level. Superflat, which began as an explorative play on surface versus three-dimensional depth in 2000 on the occasion of his exhibition of the same name that featured commercial designers from Japan, soon grew into a blurring of lines between fine art and commercial culture. Panda Geant however is not only a representation of this blurring of boundaries, but functions as a central threshold of merging worlds. Various Panda Geant sculptures sat greeting guests at the opening of Louis Vuitton’s unveiling of a new design of small items, collectively entitled Multicolore Spring Palette.

 

At the heart of this sculpture, as reflected in the narrative of the Superflat Monogram, is the artist’s concern with the evasive quality of a shared memory, which is sparked by Tomoko’s contact with Louis Vuitton. Murakami’s own mascot, Mr. DOB, first developed in 1993 undergoes a series of events that follow a dark narrative of exploring different imaginative realities including the subterranean world of Japanese subculture, and excesses of capitalist consumer culture. By the time we reach Panda Geant, we are faced by the compression of high art and fashion, presented in an attainable morsel of pure adorability. That is the invaluable beauty of Murakami’s works that takes the power of a logo and transforms it to a transcendent level of experience, existing between reality and dream.