TAKASHI MURAKAMI

(B. 1962)

Cherries
2005

Footnotes

Provenance
Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
Sale: New York, Christie's, Post-War & Contemporary Afternoon Sale, 13 November 2008, lot 395
Private Collection, New York (acquired directly from the above)
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Exhibited
Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Louis Vuitton: A Passion for Creation, 2009, p. 23, another example illustrated and exhibited

Literature
Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, Louis Vuitton: Art, Fashion and Architecture, New York, 2009, p. 302, another example illustrated



Takashi Murakami is one of the most recognizable contemporary artists living today. Over the past three decades, he has produced an oeuvre traversing fine art, installation, fashion and animation, all with a uniquely commercial edge. Cherries is Murakami at his most Pop, playful, and kawaii.


Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1962, Murakami he was enraptured with anime and manga - Japanese cartoons and comics, respectively - with aspirations to eventually work as an animator. In pursuit of this goal, Murakami studied at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, training in Nihonga, the traditional style of Japanese art, and eventually earned his Ph.D in 1993. However, he soon became disillusioned with traditional aesthetics and sought to cultivate a more modern artistic style that reflected the present day. Murakami developed his now iconic visual language by blending contemporary Japanese concepts - anime, manga, and kawaii. Translating roughly to "cute" in Japanese, Kawaii aesthetics permeate Japanese popular culture and are a defining characteristic of Murakami's oeuvre.


Number five from an edition of five, Cherries is a prime encapsulation of the playful kawaii aesthetic that Murakami so often depicts. Anthropomorphic coral-red cherries with wide blue eyes beam happily upwards, making it difficult for the viewer not to smile, or at least blush, in return. With an absurd scale and suggestive shape, the sculpture makes its surreal presence immediately known. Cherries is reminiscent of Claes Oldenburg's Spoonbridge and Cherry. Executed in 1998, the sculptural fountain is permanently located in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The work features a comically massive cherry balancing on top of a large spoon next to a small pond. With curved forms and bright color, both Murakami's Cherries and Oldenburg's Spoonbridge and Cherry emanate a sense of play and absurdity accessible to a wide audience, including children. In terms of the lasting appeal of his work, Murakami writes in a 2001 essay that he "set out to investigate the secret of market survivability - the universality of characters such as Mickey Mouse, Sonic the Hedgehog, Doraemon, Miffy, Hello Kitty, and their knockoffs, produced in Hong Kong," (T. Murakami, quoted by Jeff Howe, "The two faces of Takashi Murakami," Wired, 2003)


From Cherries to Bears to Flowers, Murakami's colorful motifs exude a sense of carefree joy. The toy-like quality of his art lends itself well to commerce, specifically merchandising. His partnership with revered French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton, which saw his cherries motif printed onto wallets, purses, bags, and luggage, was described by Vogue as "the defining fashion collaboration of the noughties". While it's simplistic to regard Murakami as the 'Japanese Warhol', it's his repetition and the interest in merging art and commerce along the lines of mass production that so mirror Andy.


Murakami continues to be a cultural force with forays into digital art and music. In 2022, he presented his first solo exhibition at The Broad, titled Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow. Murakami has exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, MoMA PS1, Mori Art Museum, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum, Museum für Moderne Kunst, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, among others. He lives and works in Tokyo, Japan.