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Takashi Murakami

An Arrow through History

May 11–June 25, 2022
980 Madison Avenue, New York

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Installation video

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Installation view

Artwork © 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo: Rob McKeever

Works Exhibited

Takashi Murakami, Chinese Perch after Kitaōji Rosanjin, 2022 Acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panel, 59 × 59 inches (150 × 150 cm)© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Chinese Perch after Kitaōji Rosanjin, 2022

Acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panel, 59 × 59 inches (150 × 150 cm)
© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower #0085 Smiling Girl, 2022 Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame, 23 ⅝ × 23 ⅝ inches (60 × 60 cm)© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower #0085 Smiling Girl, 2022

Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame, 23 ⅝ × 23 ⅝ inches (60 × 60 cm)
© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower #9727 Rainbow, 2022 Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame, 23 ⅝ × 23 ⅝ inches (60 × 60 cm)© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower #9727 Rainbow, 2022

Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame, 23 ⅝ × 23 ⅝ inches (60 × 60 cm)
© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower #4539 Fireworks, 2022 Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame, 23 ⅝ × 23 ⅝ inches (60 × 60 cm)© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower #4539 Fireworks, 2022

Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame, 23 ⅝ × 23 ⅝ inches (60 × 60 cm)
© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower #0113 Throbbing, 2022 Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame, 23 ⅝ × 23 ⅝ inches (60 × 60 cm)© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower #0113 Throbbing, 2022

Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame, 23 ⅝ × 23 ⅝ inches (60 × 60 cm)
© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower Pink & White φ1500, 2022 Acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panel, 59 ⅛ × 59 ⅛ inches (150 × 150 cm)© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Takashi Murakami, Murakami.Flower Pink & White φ1500, 2022

Acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panel, 59 ⅛ × 59 ⅛ inches (150 × 150 cm)
© 2022 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

About

Japanese culture originally came from the Eurasian continent, and my concept has been to go beyond from there into the metaverse, shooting through the history of art with a single arrow. 
—Takashi Murakami

Gagosian is pleased to present An Arrow through History, an exhibition of new works by Takashi Murakami, opening on May 11, 2022. In three simultaneous presentations spanning two of Gagosian’s New York galleries, at 976 and 980 Madison Avenue, Murakami bridges the physical and digital realms. An Arrow through History incorporates Gagosian’s first use of virtual reality, featuring a digital rendering of the 976 and 980 Madison Avenue galleries. The immersive viewing experience, created by RTFKT and Oncyber, is accessible online via gagosian.com or through a VR headset and allows access to the entire exhibition from anywhere in the world. In addition, visitors on-site can activate numerous custom Snapchat Lenses to view augmented-reality animations in each gallery and on the building’s exterior. This will be Murakami’s first exhibition at Gagosian in New York since 2014 and represents his return to 980 Madison Avenue, where he had his inaugural exhibition with the gallery in 2007.

Murakami’s presentation at 976 Madison Avenue consists of works based on the Clone X NFT initiative (2021), which he developed in collaboration with RTFKT Studios. Clone X is a series of NFT avatars conceived as three-dimensional figures bearing the artist’s distinctive motifs. The works at Gagosian translate the digitally modeled NFTs into meticulously detailed, hand-painted portraits and full-scale figurative sculptures—physical manifestations of art created for the metaverse. As Murakami explains: “When I work on a creative production, I make no distinction between digital and analog. I’m always working in the context of contemporary art, and that context is all about whether I can be involved in events that manage to trigger a cognitive revolution.”

Read more

A Takashi Murakami painting of a female avatar with blue and pink hair: CLONE X #59 Harajuku-style Angel

Takashi Murakami and RTFKT: An Arrow through History

Bridging the digital and the physical realms, the three-part presentation of paintings and sculptures that make up Takashi Murakami: An Arrow through History at Gagosian, New York, builds on the ongoing collaboration between the artist and RTFKT Studios. Here, Murakami and the RTFKT team explain the collaborative process, the necessity of cognitive revolution, the metaverse, and the future of art to the Quarterly’s Wyatt Allgeier.

Takashi Murakami cover and Andreas Gursky cover for Gagosian Quarterly, Summer 2022 magazine

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2022

The Summer 2022 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, with two different covers—featuring Takashi Murakami’s 108 Bonnō MURAKAMI.FLOWERS (2022) and Andreas Gursky’s V & R II (2022).

Takashi Murakami with works from his ceramics collection.

Murakami on Ceramics

Takashi Murakami writes about his commitment to the work of Japanese ceramic artists associated with the seikatsu kōgei, or lifestyle crafts, movement.

Takashi Murakami with his dog, Pom, Full Steam Ahead, Dark Matter in the Farthest Black Reaches of Visible Space, and Blue Flowers & Skulls (all 2012), Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., studio, Saitama, Japan, 2012

In Conversation
Takashi Murakami and Hans Ulrich Obrist

Hans Ulrich Obrist interviews the artist on the occasion of his 2012 exhibition Takashi Murakami: Flowers & Skulls at Gagosian, Hong Kong.

Takashi Murakami at LACMA

Takashi Murakami at LACMA

In a conversation recorded at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Takashi Murakami describes the process behind three major large-scale paintings, including Qinghua (2019), inspired by the motifs painted on a Chinese Yuan Dynasty porcelain vase.

“AMERICA TOO”

“AMERICA TOO”

Join us for an exclusive look at the installation and opening reception of Murakami & Abloh: “AMERICA TOO”.