Right There, The Breath of the Human Heart
View Similar Items
Takashi MurakamiRight There, The Breath of the Human Heart2013
2013
About the Item
- Creator:Takashi Murakami (1963, Japanese)
- Creation Year:2013
- More Editions & Sizes:28 in. (71 cm.), diameter, unframed. Edition of 300
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU5541422973
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.
- Louisiana HeartsBy Jim DineLocated in New York, NYCreated by Jim Dine in 1982 as an original color lithograph on wove paper and published by the Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark, Louisiana Hearts is hand-signed, dated and number...Category
20th Century Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - Korin: Superstring Theory, Takashi MurakamiBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in New York, NYCreated by Takashi Murakami in 2015, Korin: Superstring Theory is an offset color lithograph with foil and high gloss varnish on smooth wove paper. The artwork is hand-signed by the ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - DOB in Pure White Robe (Navy and Vermilion)By Takashi MurakamiLocated in New York, NYCreated as a color lithograph by Takashi Murakami in 2013, DOB in Pure White Robe (Navy and Vermilion) is hand-signed by the artist in marker, and numbered, measuring 19 ¾ x 19 ¾ inc...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - The Gates (m), from the Project for Central ParkBy Christo and Jeanne-ClaudeLocated in New York, NYThis offset lithograph in colors from the Project for Central Park, New York City, was created in 2003. One of 300 prints hand-signed by the artist in pencil, from the unnumbered edi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
- La Danse des Faunes, Pablo PicassoBy Pablo PicassoLocated in New York, NYAn original lithograph on Arches wove paper created by Picasso in 1957, La Danse des Faunes contains the artist’s stamped signature and measures 19 x 25 3/8 in. (48.3 x 64.5 cm), unf...Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - International Volunteer DayBy Keith HaringLocated in New York, NYA fun and familiar image created by Keith Haring as an original lithograph in colors in 1988, International Volunteer Day was commissioned by the United Nations on its 40th anniversa...Category
20th Century Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request
- 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
- Paean on Grassland, Yue Minjun - Art, Lithograph, Limited Edition, China, PrintBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Paean on Grassland 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...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Remarkable People, Yue Minjun- Art, Lithograph, Limited Edition, ChineseBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Remarkable People Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Lithograph Edition of 130 80 × 120 cm (47 1/5 × 31 1/2 in) Stamped Signature, numbered ...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Fighting, Yue Minjun - Art, Lithograph, Limited Edition, Chinese Art, PrintBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Fighting 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. In fantastical paintings populated with heightened, hysterical self-portraits, Yue Minjun satirizes contemporary society and art historical tropes. Yue paints himself in fluorescent hues with a gaping grin. He occasionally multiplies his likeness, making his compositions even more menacing; his style has made him a pioneer of China’s Cynical Realism movement. Yue’s influences include Chinese socialist realism, Surrealism, and European classical paintings. He studied oil painting at Hebei Normal University in Shijiazhuang and has exhibited in Hong Kong, Berlin, Shenzhen, Shanghai, London, Basel, and New York. Yue has been the subject of numerous institutional shows at venues such as the Macao Museum, the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, the National Art Museum of China, the Kunstmuseum Bonn, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Bern. “[...] I choose to paint laughter, to communicate a sense of pleasure and happiness, but actually, it hides a double perspective of drama and suffering.„ —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 Yuan, a village near Beijing where he began to form his style and iconography. The paintings, sculptures, and installations of Yue Minjun feature uniform laughing pink faces, which appear to be self-portraits. Through various symbols, metaphors, signs, or through depictions of daily life the artist constructs various realities against which the laughing figures are rendered. "In my work, laughter is a representation of a state of helplessness, lack of strength and participation, with the absence of our rights that society has imposed on us." —Yue Minjun Yue became famous after his participation in the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999, which granted him access to international art. One of the best-known paintings by Yue Minjun and an icon for modern Chinese art and the Cynical Realism movement is Execution. It was painted in 1995 and is generally regarded as a reaction to the Tiananmen Square...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Lotus Pool - Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Limited Edition, ChineseBy Yue MinjunLocated in Zug, CHYue Minjun, Lotus Pool Lithograph in color on wove paper “BFK Rives” Edition of 130 120 x 80 cm (47.2 x 31.4 in) Stamped Signature, numbered in Roman numerals In mint condition, as a...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph