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Takashi Murakami (b. 1962) Hollow Multi (TBC) 2015 acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame 56” x 47” (142 cm x 119 cm) Provenance: Galerie Perrotin, Paris Takashi Murakami’s infectiously eccentric style and fascination with pop-culture has taken the art world by storm. Drawing inspiration from a plethora of sources such as ukiyo-e prints, sci-fi, high fashion, and anime, Murakami is able to create wildly inventive and creative characters, elements, and motifs that aptly reflect a uniquely 21st Century global and intersectional aesthetic. Belonging to the generation of Japanese artists that first experienced the fruits of Japan’s economic and cultural rehabilitation, Murakami quickly became enamored with numerous foreign and western art styles. Hence, in the 90s, Murakami developed his own unique technique that not only fused Japanese and European influences, but also attempted to broaden the scope of fine art by working with a number of unorthodox media such as prints, clothes, and collectible toys. In 1996, Murakami established KaiKai KikI Co., a studio and artist management company that sought to develop unique and groundbreaking artistic talents. Murakami’s Hollow Multi (TBC) is seen as one of the best examples of the artist’s use of his iconic Flowers motif. Murakami’s name is set against a backdrop of dizzyingly whimsical and polychromatic figurative flowers, all of which are given cheerful and elated smiling faces. The bold and arresting typeface visually contradicts the piece’s more playful backdrop—a characteristically conscious choice that reflects two varying aspects of Japanese pop culture, namely kawaii and street-art aesthetics. His Flowers motif was inspired by setsugetsuka, a traditional form of Japanese that heavily emphasizes nature. Murakami subverted this tradition by creating a relatively minimalist and playful set of flowers, and Murakami’s Iconic Superflat thus his iconic motif was born. Murakami’s Flowers motif has since become an emblematic aspect of the culture he was originally depicting. His wildly evocative and visually frank character has been integrated into numerous forms of media; such as Kanye West’s 2007 album titled Graduation, Louis Vuitton’s Cosmic Flowers collection, and Billie Eilish’s 2019 music video for You Should See Me In A Crown. Murakami’s pervasive presence in both the art world and pop culture proves the artist’s successful foray into a truly intersectional and global kind of art. The Ensō paintings are an encapsulation of an invigorated awakening for Murakami, resulting from a serene and incessant metaphysical contemplation. The subject of these paintings is the Ensō (circle), one of the most prominent emblems in Zen aesthetics that epitomizes harmony, perpetuity, and nothingness in Zen Buddhism. Murakami renders the Ensō in his distinctive style, employing spray paint over his trademark assemblage of effervescent flowers and skulls. Hollow Multi (TBC) is considered one of the quintessential paragons of the artist’s Ensō paintings. With his name emphasized on the canvas, Murakami conveys to the viewer his enduring homage to an incorporeal and ethereal spirit. Quoting from the artist: “We want to see the newest things… It is the moment in which, even if we don’t completely understand what we have glimpsed, we are nonetheless touched by it.” Hollow Multi (TBC) is a representation of Murakami’s steadfast adulation to Japanese heritage and tradition – a renaissance of an unbridled minimalist practice that resulted from enlightened artistry and spirituality.