For his recently opened An Arrow Through History exhibition at Gagosian in New York, renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami has integrated his new collection of physical art and NFT projects. The exhibition features several bodies of work including a new series of hand-painted, physical paintings and sculptures based on his Clone X NFT projected created in collaboration with RTFKT Studios.
As the title suggests, Murakami connects early art traditions with contemporary modern practice including the cutting-edge world of NFTs. Spanning Gagosian’s 976 and 980 Madison Avenue spaces, the new work includes a series of blue-on-white paintings inspired by an ancient Yuan Dynasty vase, the Clone X-based collection and another collection based on his upcoming pixel-centric Murakami Flowers NFT project.
A pioneering force in contemporary art, Murakami first transformed the art world with his Superflat aesthetic featuring ‘flat’ anime and manga-inspired imagery without depth or perspective. With this new show, he surveys new ground by blurring the line between fine art hanging in galleries and the wildly popular NFT digital art phenomena. Flowing out of his practice of approaching analog and digital projects with the same creative approach, the exhibition treats the much-hyped rise of NFTs and the Metaverse not as disruptive per se but integrative and perhaps transformative. As the artist mentions in the Gagosian press release, “When I work on a creative production, I make no distinction between digital and analog. I’m always working in the context of contemporary art, and that contest is all about whether I can be involved in events that manage to trigger a cognitive revolution.”
Beyond the NFT-inspired works, the presentation of An Arrow Through History embraces digital technology in the form of virtual and artificial reality. In collaboration with RTFKT and Oncyber, the entire exhibit is available virtually through Gagosian.com or a VR headset for worldwide access. Additionally, visitors to the galleries can use custom Snapchat Lenses to bring Murakami’s art work to animated life.
Takashi Murakami||An Arrow Through History
May 11 through June 25, 2022
Gagosian New York
976 and 980 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10075
So he printed some digital art? This is not transformative this is what people have been doing since printers and digital art co-existed. Just because they’re randomly generated pieces that he’s already sold as NFT psuedo-stocks doesn’t make this ground breaking. If anything it just goes to show what a joke the whole NFT concept is, he’s just proven how entirely fungible the image itself is both in the physical and digital world.
But let’s be honest, NFTs are not about the art. They are a get rich quick scheme and unfortunately the con artists at the top of each crypto currency lure in real artists like Murakami or James Jean to help legitimise them. Or they just stage a sale of Beeple artwork for crazy money to make their own currency seem viable, get people talking and thinking this is a legitimate future for art.
The VR stuff sounds interesting at least and the interactive nature with the filters is interesting. It’s a shame that’s never the focus when the blockchain is lurking behind things.
thanks for the detailed comment. The paintings were not printed but actually hand-painted. Yes, I think it’s fair to say NFTs can be controversial.