By Lin Kan Hsuang
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Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, 49, recently confessed to a Chinese audience that he's merely a "circus monkey" trying to gratify audiences.

He's been called the "Japanese Andy Warhol," listed as one of TIME magazine's 2008 "100 Most Influential People," a former Louis Vuitton fashion designer (2002-03) and a modern artist. 

Invited by Bazaar Art magazine, Murakami delivered a speech on his career and life at the Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA) last week, explaining that his profession is to create contemporary artworks about current society.

"The significance of art is nullified when it discards the connection with human desires," Murakami explained. "Thus, it's a necessary evil to be in touch with capitalism, the prevalent monster in the world." Despite his grand achievements in the realm of art, Murakami exuded a self-deprecating attitude throughout his speech. 

Lost in 'translation'

Last year, the artist sparked controversy when he was invited to showcase 22 artworks at the Palace of Versailles, built by "Sun King" Louis XIV. Murakami, whose "Super-Flat" method incorporates two-dimensional anime and manga, was at the time involved in a protest against an unsuccessful Tokyo bill to restrict the sexualized depiction of fictional underage characters in manga comics. A petition against Murakami gathered 4,000 signatures and condemnation from the likes of Prince Sixte-Henri de Bourbon-Parmet, a descendent of Louis XIV, and Bernard Dark, director of the Louvre Museum. Juxtaposed with the palace's 17th-century classical décor, Murakami's colorful pop sculptures were seen as both inappropriate and degrading, although the artist's works explicitly referencing sex or religion were omitted from the actual exhibition.

"The intention of holding an exhibition about contemporary art is to attract visitors to the museum in wintertime," Murakami said. "Yet, to some art critics or conservatives, many items of my solo exhibition were controversial. Miss ko2's skirt was criticized for being too short, while the gesture of a bespectacled little boy sculpture was too much like a Nazi officer's salute." 

"The little boy with pointed genitals whose jet of sperm forms a lasso [My Lonesome Cowboy, 1998] [and] the big-breasted little girl whose jet of milk forms a skipping rope [Hiropon, 1997] have no place in the royal chambers," said Anne Brassié, one of the authors of the "Versailles, Mon Amour" petition, referring to two of Murakami's most notorious pieces, neither of which were at Versailles. 

Despite a variety of negative reactions in Japan and abroad, in May 2008, My Lonesome Cowboy was sold for $15.2 million at a Sotheby's auction, while Hiropon fetched $7.37 million.

"I comprehend [this] weird phenomenon as a process of 'translation,'" Murakami said. "French artist Claude Monet's paintings were originally unpopular in France. He won his fame in the US at first and was then appreciated by French people." 

 

Living potential

Murakami focused on American artist Brice Marden in his speech, praising Marden's series of artworks on calligraphy.

"Inspired by Chinese characters, Marden started with the imitation of writing the characters. Gradually, he developed his personal abstract aesthetic, which forms the painting with coils of strings or threads," Murakami explained. "Marden's Cold Mountain series represent a fusion of Western art and Oriental culture."

For an artist, the utmost task is to find an object which deserves being investigated and interpreted, explained Murakami. He compared his signature creation, Mr. DOB, with Marten's cross-border Cold Mountain series. 

Mr. DOB is a balloon-like Japanese icon in the style of Mickey Mouse. Consisting of an "O"-shaped head with the letter "D" and "B" painted on either ear, DOB's name is based on the dada-esque manga phrase "Dobojite dobojite" ("Why? Why?"). Often reinterpreted and reimagined, Mr. DOB embodies Murakami's attitude toward an ever-changing and diversified world.

"I always ponder over the perpetual popularity of some artist maestros, such as Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. Why are their artworks still vivacious nowadays? I also wonder about what is the 'survival skill' or 'commonality' of popular cartoon figures such as Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty or Doraemon. These questions are the initiatives of my Mr. DOB plan, which can be considered as my self-portrait nowadays," Murakami said. 

Mr. DOB, created in 1993, serves as an archetype for Murakami's cartoon figures, such as Tan Tan Bo (2001) or Kaikai and Kiki (2002). 

"Both Marden's Cold Mountain and my Mr. DOB are a series of artworks based on the same 'object.' It's a process of rumination," Marukami continued.

Those who wish to share this process are able to join Murakami at his twice-yearly Geisai Festival in Japan and Taiwan, which he founded in 2009 to nurture emerging talents. With his company Kaikai Kiki Co Ltd, the artist supports and manages a group of budding artists. 

"Geisai provides a platform… In Japan, we hold Geisai at the Big Sight Hall in Tokyo in springtime, while Geisai Taiwan takes place in Huashan Creative Park in Taipei in wintertime. Both offer more than 300 booths for artists to apply for," he explained. 

It is all part of his main endeavor: to become a living example of the potential of art. This, said Murakami, is the impulsive force behind his work.