Takashi Murakami

Homage to Francis Bacon (Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne, moiré)

2016

'Red Demon and Blue Demon with 48 Arthats' is a large-format offset lithograph by Takashi Murakami, image size 28 x 46.5 inches and framed size 37.5 x 56 inches. From the edition of 300, signed lower right and numbered 191/300. Framed in a contemporary, white frame. In the 2017 monograph, ‘The Octopus Eats its Own Legs’, Michael Dylan Foster writes, “Akiko Miki has noted that in his more recent work Murakami has made a ‘shift not only to being concerned with the notion of religion – a main component, along with capitalism, behind the creation of art – but also towards a more serious engagement with the traditions of Japanese art.’ These concerns, manifested in his explicit invocations of folkloric imagery and creatures from both religion and art, are particularly apparent in ‘The 500 Arhats,’ his monumental twenty-four-paneled, 100-meter-long painting. The work portrays five hundred wizened and grotesque arhats, Buddhist religious figures who, as art historian Nobuo Tsuji puts it, ‘normally… stay in the mountains practicing religious austerities, only appearing after a fire, tsunami, earthquake, or some other disaster has occurred, as a kind of rescue team.’ The gargantuan painting represents Murakami’s interest in creating – in the wake of Japan’s tragedy of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011 – ‘a work of art that would be deemed indispensable to our times.’ The inspiration came directly from a series of exchanges between Murakami and Tsuji, whose critical work the artist had long admired.” Regarding the red and blue demons in the present artwork, these are allusions to Japan’s folkloric tradition of ‘oni’ – ogre or devil-like creatures who in ancient times were associated with bad fortunes and events, but in modern times are more ambiguous. “…Murakami’s invocation of the oni suggests that – unlike his arhats, or his baku and hakutaku – these beings have not come as part of the post-disaster ‘rescue team’ but may represent the very inhuman forces that cause disaster. A closer examination of the figures, however, reveals that Murakami has incorporated other cultural allusions that complicate a one-sided interpretation. …these poses are reminiscent of the so-called Niō guardian...

Chaos: Primordial Life is an offset lithograph on paper, 26.75 x 26.75 inches, signed and numbered 92/300 lower right. Framed in a contemporary silver-tone frame.

Untitled from Moonstrips Empire News By Eduardo Paolozzi Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was a pioneering Scottish artist and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. Renowned f...

Will Barnet: A Timeless World (hand signed, dated and warmly inscribed), 2000 Softback monograph with stiff wraps (hand signed, dated and warmly inscribed) Hand signed, dated and warmly inscribed to Margo by Will Barnet on the half title page 12 × 9 × 1/2 inches We believe the colleague Margo refers to renowned African American artist Margo Humphrey, who also worked at the Rutgers Center for Innovative Printmaking with Will Barnet. The full inscription reads: Sep 21 2000 To my colleague -Margo- with appreciation and affection Will Barnet Book information: Published by the Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey and Distributed by Rutgers University Press English; Paperback; 124 pages containing 43 color and 20 black-and-white illustrations Publisher's blurb: Painter and printmaker Will Barnet has actively participated in the New York art world for nearly 70 years. A leading figure in the Indian Space painting movement of the late 1940s, Barnet stressed the spatial structures of Northwest Coast Indian art. Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, he made a series of hardedged, totemic abstractions marked by their "all-positive" space, which he described as austere, classical expressions of Indian culture. He then moved on to new art forms in the 1960s and 1970s, creating a series of family and art world portraits that achieved a remarkable balance between the formal demands of abstraction and the humanist aspects of representation. Will Barnet: A Timeless World is the first substantial publications to unify Barnet's prodigious output. Art historian Gail Stavitsky provides an overview of this artist's entire career. Twig Johnson, the museum's curator of Native American Art, discusses the relationship of Barnet's work to this important indigenous artistic tradition. Jessica Nicoll, chief curator at the Portland Museum of Art, explores the profound impact of New England upon Barnet and his work. Many of Barnet's works are beautifully reproduced in this catalog, containing 43 color and 20 black-and-white illustrations. More about Will Barnet: Will Barnet was born in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1911. He has taught and exhibited widely over his more than seventy-five year career. His works are in the collection of virtually every American museum, including locally The Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Whitney Museum of American. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In fall 2011 the National Academy Museum will present a retrospective exhibition being organized by Bruce Weber. Barnet is represented exclusively by Alexandre Gallery...