Exhibition | Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats

Exhibition

THE JAPAN DEBUT OF TAKASHI MURAKAMI'S MAGNUM OPUS, THE 500 ARHATS, WITH LARGE-SCALE SCULPTURES AND MORE.

The 500 Arhats (detail)
2012 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 302x10,000cm Private collection
Installation view: "Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats," Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2015 Photo: Takayama Kozo
(C) 2012 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Takashi Murakami is known as one of the most internationally acclaimed contemporary artists working today. In addition to his retrospective, which began at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and later traveled to prominent museums around the world, he has held large-scale installations in a number of venues such as the Palace of Versailles and the Rockefeller Center, astounding the global audience with the massive scale and polished quality of the works.
In this long-awaited solo exhibition in Japan, Murakami's 100-meter-long painting, The 500 Arhats, one of the largest paintings ever produced in global art history, will be shown in Japan for the first time. The work was created as a token of gratitude to the nation of Qatar, one of the first to offer assistance in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, and was unveiled in Doha in 2012. The exhibition will comprise The 500 Arhats and a number of new works in which he continues to offer up new challenges to the history of contemporary art. This exhibition will be an opportunity to encounter Murakami as a mature artist working with astonishing scale, energy, and artistic accomplishment.

THE JAPAN PREMIERE OF TAKASHI MURAKAMI'S EPIC, THE 500 ARHATS

Enlisting over 200 students from Japanese art colleges, Takashi Murakami carried out out the arduous task of completing his 100-meter-long magnum opus painting The 500 Arhats in a very short period of time.

The work consists of four sections bearing the names of the legendary Chinese guardians of the four celestial directions (Blue Dragon - east, White Tiger - west, Vermilion Bird - south, and Black Tortoise - north). Addressing themes of religion and art, human mortality and limitations, this new monumental work can be said to have broken new ground in Murakami' s creativity. The 500 Arhats was first unveiled overseas, making this exhibition in Japan a 'homecoming.' In fact, the exhibition marks the world premiere of 'completed' The 500 Arhats as some elements and details of have been added since.

In addition, by exhibiting parts of vast materials used in production, such as drawings, research materials, instructions for sketches, the exhibition offers a glimpse into Murakami's artwork production system.

※The 500 Arhats
The 500 arhats are thought of as enlightened disciples of Buddha who spread his teachings and give ordinary people salvation from worldly desires. Faith in the arhats was conveyed to Japan during the Heian period (8th-12th century) and flourished throughout the country from the Edo period (17th-19th century) on in the forms of paintings and sculptures. Kano Kazunobu's Five Hundred Arhats (housed at Zojoji Temple in Shiba, Tokyo), consisting of a series of 100 painting scrolls, was exhibited in Japan in its entirety for the first time at the Edo Tokyo Museum immediately following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, and at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, a Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. in 2012. Both exhibitions drew tremendous public attention.

The 500 Arhats [White Tiger] (detail) 2012 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 302x10,000cm Private collection
Installation view: "Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats," Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2015 Photo: Takayama Kozo
(C)2012 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Takashi Murakami, The Worldly Artist from Japan

Born 1962 in Tokyo, Murakami completed his doctoral work at Tokyo University of the Arts' School of Fine Arts, becoming the first person at the university to earn a Ph.D. in Nihonga. He is the founder and the representative of Kaikai Kiki, an art production and management company. Linking otaku culture, character iconography, and Japanese art history, he has developed the concept of 'Superflat.' "Little Boy" (New York, 2005), the final exhibition of Superflat Trilogy, a series of three exhibitions he curated, was given the 2005 award for the best thematic exhibition by the American branch of the International Association of Art Critics. In 2008, Murakami was selected as one of TIME magazine's "The 100 Most Influential People." He is well known for his corporate branding projects as well as collaborations with musicians. In 2013, he directed his first live-action feature film Jellyfish Eyes. he is scheduled to release an animated television series 6HP (Six Hearts Princess).

Photo : Okazumi Chika

Notice Regarding Photography in the Galleries

At the exhibition "Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats," photography is permitted for private purposes and noncommercial use only. Filming is permitted by mobile phone / smartphone only.

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