As for Murakami's LV bags, sandals, and jewelry, it took 33
screens to print them, while the
"eye love" monogrammed bags required 93 in contrast to the usual
three. But, to get to the point, if you want one or two, then put yourself
on a waiting list at 1-866-VUITTON, or try
Ebay.
Takashi Murakami, Photo: Cheryl Kaplan
CHERYL
KAPLAN: Have you seen the film Lost in
Translation?
TAKASHI MURAKAMI : I haven't seen the movie
yet. That's the one by
Francis Ford Coppolla's
daughter, isn't it?
CK: The film pivots around the
Japanese fetish with the commercial - the 30-second TV spot and the
commodity - something that also concerns your work. How has your
relationship to the Japanese culture of cuteness changed with your recent
projects?
TM: When I create the characters, I still pay
attention to their cuteness. I exist in a 3-dimensional world, but the
characters I create come from a 4-dimensional world. My world has many
monsters, which is true to me. I believe in the sci-fi thing, in the
fantasy thing, movie magic or
SFX magic or games.
CK: Cuteness and the "Superflat," a term
your L.A.
dealer, Tim Blum, invented, have provided a platform for your work,
especially as they relate to a mass audience. You're often compared to
Warhol and called a pop artist, but your practice is entirely different
from pop.
TM: "Superflat" is completely different from pop. I'm thinking about where
Japanese society is today.
CK: You've been very interested
in animation for a long time, and you have a Ph.D. in traditional Japanese
nihon-ga painting. Does that help you build the bridge between
entertainment and pure art?
TM: Most Japanese don't identify
with fine art. I had a fine arts education at a university, but when I did
my Ph.D., I was looking more towards general culture, to the movies and
larger cultural issues. I was really impressed with animation, with seeing
from frame to frame. From the inside, my brain looks like the
Guggenheim Museum, like a spiral.
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CK: Is that why you're
interested in Hollywood, or is it because Hollywood builds bridges between
pure art and entertainment?
TM : No one has succeeded yet in
building that bridge between pure art and entertainment. This is true, and
it's a really interesting point. If I make a Hollywood movie, many people
will be able to see my work - that's why Hollywood is really important for
me, to give me a very big audience. In the pure art world, there are only
a few critics who can say if a piece is good or not. A few collectors can
buy your work, but in mass culture, the ones who make the decisions about
whether the work is good or bad or if it should be seen is the audience.
That's the defining point. Hollywood is my dream.
CK: Are
you about to make an
animated or feature film?
TM: I'm thinking about making an
animation film. But I'm not intending to connect with pure art in this
process. I don't want to make a bridge between pure art and the movie
industry.
CK: That's a big change from your earlier
objectives, when you wanted to break those walls.
TM: I'm in
the process of pursuing a film career, which involves entertainment; this
means that the audience is younger.
CK: Art rarely reaches a
mass audience, except in blockbuster exhibitions; fashion, however, does.
Did the mass scale of the
Mr. Pointy installation in
Rockefeller Center change the reception of your work? Your public art
installation reached 2.5 million visitors.
Takashi Murakami: Reversed Dauble-Helix, 2003,
Installation at Rockefeller Center New York
Photo: Tom Powel Imagining (c) Public Art Fund
TM: For Mr. Pointy, we didn't have to spend any money on convincing
the public to go there. Rockefeller Center is a very famous place. In pure
art, it's impossible to make a large-scale promotion and have a big
audience. The Museum of Modern Art has a
very large audience: they can make big-scale promotions and spend big
money on projects.
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