Essay #2

Tan Tan Bo - In Communication
Takashi Murakami
2014

The trip to the Chelsea Galleries was a very interesting experience. My favorite piece was Kay Hassan's Passage of Time, but my favorite exhibit overall was Takashi Murakami's In The Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow. I love how Murakami used so many vibrant colors and made such creative characters that expressed complete randomness in his works. They seem to make no sense and I can't help but really like imaginative works such as these. But these are not the only works that Murakami designed, he also makes huge statues of ogres and monsters, and has made a building that looks like a shrine. These works are not so colorful and random, but they are still very creative and aesthetically pleasing. I also noticed something peculiar; in quite a few of his paintings, there is a character standing normally while the chaos is around him. I believe that this is Murakami depicting himself in his works. Many artists are believed to put themselves in the atmosphere of the work they produce when they are looking forward at the viewer, and Murakami does this by placing a small man with a cat smile and glasses near the bottom left of a few of his works. This is how he represents himself and how he wants people to see him, just a simple little man. I also find it interesting how in one of his works there is a seemingly unrelated quote about humans having a need to go to war. There is also a second quote in the upper right of the painting which I was sadly not able to read, but it could be relating to war or literally anything else, thinking of how chaotic this picture is. I think this quote was placed here because in the picture, the character saying it is being eaten by a much larger creature, which is similar to the thought of war; one being aiming to overpower another. In conclusion, I was very satisfied with today's trip because I got to learn about yet another artist I've come to like.

Passage of Time
Kay Hassan
2014

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Takashi Murakami
2014