Murakami Takashi is Embarrassed

Murakami puts heavy emphasis on his description of Japan. We know that he comes from a classically trained background, and the variety of art works he creates is drawn from traditional art of Japan; e.g. woodblock printing. His Japan, to use the term most appropriately, is “superflat.” The (traditional) culture of the past mixed with the contemporary westernized culture of today can be seen as the foundation for Murakami’s theme on his home country.

Murakami’s art grasps the “simple” as elegant, yet stupid; his cartoon-like, two-dimensional pieces are arguably attractive, but at the same time represent absurdity. The Exhibition Tour video made me see Japan in a new perspective. Even though he mentions some of his art works — the Jellyfish Eyes wallpaper — are not only hard to explain to Americans but to Japanese as well, he has a unique image of Japan as not some isolated country, but as some rarefied community. The Japanese may have developed iconic works of art throughout their history (which have spawned into the likes of manga and anime), but now we are seeing a globalization engulfing this “exclusive” Japan. For Murakami, this may not be a healthy change. We have to step back and really ask, “Is this really authentically Japanese? What in the world IS authentic Japanese??” His inspiration from western artists (Andy Warhol, Walt Disney) and designers has been pivotal in proving this point.

I side with Murakami when he expresses embarrassment over some of his works. The fact that his works evoke, in westernized consumers, disparate emotions simultaneously provides proof that this two-dimensional, surface-level culture is dominating our social consciousness. He brilliantly uses the system we adhere to-to attack the idiotic franchised, post-industrial machine we bred. Art is meaningless outside its context. Murakami creates simple, child-like works not because he is incapable of producing more conventional “higher art,” but in spite of what type of culture we consumer communities have become. In my opinion, Murakami stands alone in the mainstream as an artist who sacrifices what is self-appealing in order to bring his messages to the forefront of our frivolous society.