TAKASHI MURAKAMI TO HOLD SOLO

SHOW IN IBIZA

BY Darryl Wee | June 16, 2015

 Takashi Murakami, 69 Arhats Beneath the Bodhi Tree, 2013, Acrylic, gold and platinum leaf on canvas mounted on board. Ten panels; 118 1/8 x 39 3/8 inches each (300 x 100 centimeters) 118 1/8 x 393 11/16 inches overall (300 x 1000 centimeters). Photo by Joshua White (Courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe ©2013 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved )  Japanese superstar artist Takashi Murakami will present a solo exhibition of paintings, sculptures, and film screenings spread across four locations in Ibiza, Spain, opening June 24.

At Art Projects Ibiza, Murakami will exhibit a selection of more recent works presented together with his gallery Blum & Poe, including a series of abstract paintings inspired by the compositional and thematic bases of the Rimpa school painter Ogata Korin (1658-1716), combining Murakami’s interest in traditional Japanese aesthetics with elements of Abstract Expressionism, manga styles, and Buddhist motifs. Also on display are his flower ball paintings, featuring his trademark smiling flowers, and “Fate” (2013), a wall-mounted gold leaf sculpture made up of a cascading torrent of skulls.

Meanwhile, Murakami’s epic ten-meter painting “69 Arhats Beneath the Bodhi Tree” (2013) will be shown at the newly inaugurated art space Lune Rouge Ibiza, which houses the collection of Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, who has made the island his home for more than thirty years.

The Ibiza Gran Hotel currently showcases Murakami’s eighteen-feet-tall sculpture “Oval Buddha” (2007) presiding majestically in front of its main entrance with its immaculately layered aluminum and platinum leaf. Elsewhere, the entryway leading to HEART Ibiza, a new dining destination conceptualized by Laliberté and El Bulli’s Albert and Ferran Adrià, will form the backdrop for a new bronze relief piece depicting a morass of skulls and crowns.

Takashi Murakami’s solo exhibition in Ibiza runs June 24 through September 26, 2015