Monster high

Takashi Murakami's latest show is a potent mix of pandemicinspired creatures, eye-popping flowers, NFTs, avatars and 17th-century Japanese motifs

- PEI-RU KEH

For the better part of the last three decades, Takashi Murakami has dominated popular culture with his bounty of recognisable symbols. From his nowubiquitous Flowers to his equally endearing Mr DOB alter-ego, Murakami’s brightly coloured universe has expanded the reaches of art well beyond the canvas. Through his influence, Vans slip-on sneakers, Perrier bottles and T-shirts for Uniqlo, as well as music videos for Billie Eilish, cushions for the Museum of Modern Art and collectible timepieces (both IRL and NFT) for Hublot, have all become veritable platforms for art. And while he has made his work available to as many people as possible, Murakami still continues to retain his standing at the pinnacle of the art world.

If it is possible to surpass this peak, Murakami is about to do it with ‘Takashi Murakami: Unfamiliar People – Swelling of Monsterized Human Ego’, a major exhibition that’s currently on view at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco until February 12 next year. Showcasing more than 75 works, including more than a dozen that have never been seen before, the monumental presentation offers a unique view of where one of the world’s most prolific artists is currently in both his life and career.

‘This exhibition came to be by invitation of [the museum’s senior curator of Japanese art] Laura Allen, and in terms of the content, I have been running my own ideas on the rails she has laid out,’ shares Murakami. ‘Her theme has been to push my interests of the moment to the forefront.’