Let us Devote Our Hearts
View Similar Items
Takashi MurakamiLet us Devote Our Hearts2022
2022
About the Item
- Creator:Takashi Murakami (1963, Japanese)
- Creation Year:2022
- Dimensions:Height: 27.96 in (71 cm)Diameter: 27.96 in (71 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:Edition of 300Price: $1,995
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Tokyo, JP
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1658210966352
Takashi Murakami
Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami may be famous among collectors for the psychedelic flowers and chaotic cartoons that populate his prints and paintings, but artists likely know him as the theorist behind the contemporary art movement he calls “Superflat.”
Partially inspired by the Pop art of Andy Warhol, in which celebrity culture and mundane mass-produced items became the focus of bright and colorful works that both celebrated and criticized consumerism, Murakami’s Superflat encompasses painting, sculpture, digital design and more to present a subversive look at consumerism but is also an effort to blend fine art and lowbrow culture.
A multifaceted and remarkably influential artist as well as a compulsive art collector, Murakami has collaborated with brands such as Louis Vuitton, while one of his most famous Superflat works is the teddy bear on the cover of the Graduation album by American rapper Kanye West.
In 1993 Murakami earned his Ph.D. from Tokyo University of the Arts, where he was trained in nihonga, a style of painting that originated in the late 19th century by artists who worked to preserve and promote the conventions and processes associated with traditional Japanese art. While practicing nihonga, Murakami began to realize that his beliefs didn’t align with the tradition, so his art subsequently took on a satirical feel that embodied a critique of the movement. Before long, his style took a drastic turn, embracing otaku, a rising postwar cultural phenomenon among Japan’s younger crowd who loved anime and manga. (Otaku is also integral to Superflat.)
This is when Murakami’s most well-known character, Mr. DOB, was born. This anime-inspired icon, which Americans might interpret as a cross between Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat given its pronounced ears and broad and menacing grin, was part of the artist’s endeavor to elevate the otaku subculture but also to target mass consumerism. While Murakami conceived of Mr. DOB years ahead of his 2000-era Superflat theory, there is much common ground between the two. Not unlike his other creations, Murakami’s Mr. DOB is equal parts erotic, disturbing and cartoonish — an incisive mockery of the mingling of commerce and fine art so prevalent in Japanese popular culture.
Find original Takashi Murakami prints, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.
- 1958 Original Poster by Alain Gauthier Airline - Royal Air MarocLocated in PARIS, FRThe 1958 original travel poster by Alain Gauthier for Royal Air Maroc encapsulates the essence of adventure and discovery synonymous with air travel to Morocco. With its bold typogra...Category
1950s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLinen, Paper, Lithograph
- 1962 Original travel poster by Guy Georget - Air France l'IndeBy Guy GeorgetLocated in PARIS, FRThe 1962 original travel poster by Guy Georget for Air France transports viewers to the enchanting realm of India, inviting them to embark on a journey of discovery and cultural imme...Category
1960s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLinen, Paper, Lithograph
- The original Soviet poster from 1968, "American Imperialism is a World GendarmeLocated in PARIS, FRThe original Soviet poster from 1968, "American Imperialism is a World Gendarme (War, Racism, Provocation...)," stands as a vivid example of Soviet propaganda agitation. This poster ...Category
1960s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsPaper, Lithograph
- Original lithograph by Poulbot of a scene from the first world war. This lithogrBy Francisque PoulbotLocated in PARIS, FROriginal lithograph by Poulbot of a scene from the first world war. This lithograph is numbered 36/50 and hand signed by the artist. Francisque Poulbot, born in Saint-Denis on Februa...Category
1910s Prints and Multiples
MaterialsPaper, Lithograph
- Backyard Garden, Yue Minjun - Art, Lithograph, Limited Edition, China Art, PrintBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Backyard Garden Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 x 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered in Roman numerals In mint condition, as acquired from the publisher PLEASE NOTE: Edition numbers could vary from the one shown in the pictures. The pictures shown are only for illustrative reasons, the piece is offered unframed. The print is mounted on double sheet of paper with a poem on one spread and print on the other. Backyard Garden belongs to the set of twenty lithographs from the “Snatched Ecstasy of Yue Minjun”, which comes as a limited edition of 130 rare books. The work of Yue Minjun is instantly recognizable with its uniform laughing faces, the artist's faces. Minjun creates various realities against which the laughing figures are rendered, thus creating ambiguous images, often with the sinister atmosphere, which comes as his personal cynical reaction to various social and political dimensions of contemporary Chinese realities. Immediately humorous and sympathetic, Yue Minjun’s paintings offer a light-hearted approach to philosophical enquiry and contemplation of existence. Yue’s self-portraits have been describe by theorist Li Xianting as “a self-ironic response to the spiritual vacuum and folly of modern-day China”, thus the acidic tones and commercialized vacuity of his works are used to underscore the insincerity of his figures’ mirth. “Art should be an expression of one's particular feelings and should be direct and deep. So I drew one person, and then added another and another until there were crowds of them. Then I felt my emotions to be fully expressed.„ —Yue Minjun YUE MINJUN Yue Min-Jun (born 1962, Daqing, China) is one of the leading Chinese artists. He is best known for oil paintings depicting formations of his laughing self-portraits in various settings. His iconography is easily recognisable, it challenges social and cultural conventions by depicting objects and political issues in a radical, abstract, ironic and cynical manner. Yue Min-Jun initially started painting as a hobby, subsequently he graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Hebei Normal University, China in 1985. In the 90s he joined an artist community in Yuan Ming...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Armed Forces - Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, ChineseBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Armed Forces Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 × 120 cm (31.5 × 47.2 in) Stamped S...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph