Highlight #22: A diversity of Art and Culture

Exploring the shows in Japan, France, and Ireland

Japan, Tokyo <TAKASHI MURAKAMI: THE 500 ARHATS>

31 October 2015 ~ 6 March 2016_Mori Art Museum

Born in 1962, Takashi Murakami is one of the most active and significant Japanese artists in the global art scene today. Best known for his character-based artworks depicting otaku culture, (otaku is a Japanese term that means “mania”), he stays busy with a flurry of genre-transcending projects. He formulated the Super flat art movement, organizes GEISAI art events, supports young artists, and collaborates with both musicians and corporate brands, and produces films and animation works.

His latest solo show in a large-scale exhibition focuses on more recent work, The 500 Arhats (2012). It is a 3-meter-high, 100-meter-long painting of the 500 enlightened followers of Buddha, created in response to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The show also includes some large sculptural pieces and abstract paintings. Representing Murakami’s magnum opus and other works, the exhibition not only allows visitors to understand his new artistic interests, but also provides the opportunity to encounter the artist himself within the works of astonishing scale.

<The Birth Cry of A Universe>

In Production Mixed Media 420×293.5×230cm Courtesy: Gagosian Gallery, New York ⓒ Takashi Murakami/Kaikai KiKi Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
<The 500 Arhats(detail)>

2012 Acrylic on canvas mounted on board 302×10,000cm Private collection ⓒ Takashi Murakami/Kaikai KiKi Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
[Title TBD]

In Production 180×240cm Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame ⓒ 2015 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai KiKi Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

France, Paris <BEAUTÉ CONGO: 1926-2015 CONGO KITOKO>

11 July ~ 15 November 2015_Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain

This exhibition captures the extraordinary cultural vitality and creative spirit of Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Beauté Congo” provides a unique introduction to audiences yet unfamiliar with the art and culture of the region.
Taking as its point of departure the birth of modern painting in the Congo in the 1920s, the exhibition traces a century of the country’s artistic production specifically focusing on painting.

However, it will also include works of music, sculpture, photography and comics. The exhibition hopes to provide viewers with the opportunity to discover the diverse and vibrant art scene of the Congo.
As early as the mid-1920s, when the Congo was still a Belgian colony, precursors such as Albert and Antoinette Lubaki and Djilatendo painted the first known Congolese works on paper. The exhibition also features the work of Pili Pili Mulongoy, Chéri Samba, Moke, JP. Mika, Jean Depara, Ambroise Ngaimoko, and many other artists.

View of the exhibition <Beaute Congo-1926-2015-Congo Kitoko, July 2015>

November 2015 Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris Photo: Luc Boegly
Mwenze Kibwanga <Sans titre>

1954 Huile sur panneau Unalit 39.5×48.5cm Collection Pierre Loos, Bruxelles ⓒ Mwenze Kibwanga Photo ⓒ Michael De Plaen

Ireland, Dublin <WHAT WE CALL LOVE: FROM SURREALISM TO NOW>

12 September 2015 ~ 7 February 2016_The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)

This group exhibition in Dublin explores how the notion of love has evolved within the 20th and 21st centuries. The central subject is how seismic sociological changes concerning sexuality, marriage and intimacy, alongside developments in gender issues, have affected the way we conceive love. The show reflects the changes in visual art, from Surrealism to the present day, and what love means in current culture through such artistic representations.

The show features almost 200 works, including those by significant figures like Constantin Brâncuși, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Meret Oppenheim and Pablo Picasso. Also included are pieces by Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Marina Abramović, Louise Bourgeois, Nan Goldin, Damien Hirst, Rebecca Horn, Carolee Schneemann and Wolfgang Tillmans. There will also be new commissions by Lucy Andrews, Séamus Nolan, Garrett Phelan and Jeremy Shaw.
The exhibition is one of the museum’s most ambitious and compelling shows yet. And don’t miss the accompanying programming, which includes a series of talks, film screenings and debates. ■ with ARTINPOST

Kapwani Kiwanga <Turns of Phrase Fig.1(Upendo)>

2012
Christodoulos Panayiotou <Slow dance Marathon>

2005