All images: ©2012 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Takashi Murakami's first exhibition in the Middle East opened earlier this month in Doha, Qatar. "Murakami-Ego" will be view on view at Al Riwaq Exhibition Hall through June 24, 2012. The massive show is curated by Massimiliano Gioni and includes 70 works from 1997 to now, including 16 new works. "I like to think of this exhibition as the foundation of ‘Murakami City’,” said Gioni in a statement. “Takashi has conceived of this show as an urban experience, a walk into a gigantic artificial landscape, a science fiction environment. For its scale and ambition it is an absolutely unique exhibition, and one that could only be realized here in Doha, thanks to the commitment of the Qatar Museums Authority which has embraced the artist’s vision with incredible generosity.”
One of the most striking new works is Arhat Painting (2012), a 328-foot painting that is the artist's largest to date. It was made in response to last year's earthquake and tsunami in Japan. "With the recent disasters, I was able to experience firsthand the way that such catastrophes have served as the origin point for the spread of Japanese religion and culture," said the artist who held the New Day auction to benefit victim's of the 2011 disasters last fall. "In the sense that Japan's artistic tradition developed in the same way, this new piece is for me a kind of Guernica."
The upcoming Spring 2012 Art Issue of Whitewall, out in just two weeks, features a cover story on Takashi Murakami.
