A Closer Look: Takashi Murakami
Installation view, Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats its Own Leg, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Jun 6–Sep 24, 2017. Work shown: Takashi Murakami, 69 Arhats Beneath the Bodhi Tree (detail), 2013. Acrylic, gold leaf, and platinum leaf on canvas mounted on board; ten panels, overall: 118 1/8 x 393 ¾ in. (300 x 1,000 cm). Collection Lune Rouge
Photo: Nathan Keay ©2013 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.It is difficult to imagine the labor that went into creating the enormous and meticulously detailed artworks in Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg. It's also a challenge to recognize the sometimes hundreds of characters in each painting. We are sharing two MCA videos that can help: one demonstrates Murakami's studio process and another illuminates the artist's influences, techniques, and philosophies about art. Related videos below offer additional insights in an in-depth conversation between Murakami and the exhibition's curator, Michael Darling. And for a closer look at the works created for the MCA's major retrospective, on view through September 24, check out this behind-the-scenes video by the artist's production company Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.
Murakami Describes His Three-Decades-Long Practice
Enter the Artist’s Studio