Contemporary Art Essays - Pop Artists, Otaku, Takashi Murakami

Contemporary Art Essays - Pop Artists, Otaku, Takashi Murakami Contemporary Art Contemporary Art Compare and Contrast Writing Assignment The three contemporary pieces of art that I decided to compare and contrast all come from one artist, contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. I came across this artist years ago after listing to Kanye West 3rd album The Graduation. I was so impressed by the album cover art work I decided to look up the artist and found out Takashi was much more than just a drawer, he is a painter a sculptor and an over all creative genius when it comes to his different forms of contemporary media. He creates a world of cartoon like creatures using vivid colors almost remind me of a cartoon representation of a really crazy acid or mushroom experience. His art gallery entitled EGO showcased the different forms of art Takashi can create, I chose a painting, a sculpture and an installation that I will compare and contrast from his exhibition. Takashis painting titled Mr. DOB was created with acrylic paint on canvas. It is a 2D art piece with a composition give depth to the creatures drawn in the painting. Takashi draws the main figure high up and puts other creatures in the foreground so you can get the perception that youre looking up at this massive creature he created. He used very vibrant colors like teal blue, bright pink and yellow, the world and beasts he created are fictional so the odd colors make them stand out and give them their own worldly feel. Mr. DOB is very abstract, although the characters are completely made up, he paints them in a way that you can still relate their actions to a feeling. The painting gives me a sense of death, although it is a very bright piece, it is very chaotic and the creatures seem to be shooting each other or at war. Flower Matango was a piece he created as an installation for his gallery. It consist of bright abstract smiling-flower wallpaper on the walls and floor, a painting and a matching smiling-flower sculpture in the center as its main focal point, that was created to fit the entire space. This installation was made to engulf you as you experience it. All the flowers are very colorful, five pedal flowers with a smile face for the center. Theres really no limit on the colors used to create the flowers, the brighter the color the better. The sculpture is made of soft cotton stuffed pillows figures that the exact same flower pieces as the painting and wallpaper, just 3D. In this insulation he utilized both the 3D and 2D components of art expression. This installation although visually bright like his painting Mr. DOB conveys a very different message. Where the other once is pure chaos this piece is sure joy. Every flower created whether painted or sculpted all have a small face. I feel as if the subject matter is that we as society smile to one another and think were individuals when really, were all the same. He represents thats with all the flowers being different colors, but they all look alike and every single one has the exact same smile. It almost gives off a sense of fakeness. The third media is a 20-foot 3D inflatable sculpture of him titled by his first name Murakami. It is an exact replica of the artist himself. The focal point of this peace would be his large 4 foot hand reaching out as to be giving or reactive something form the views. He created himself sitting with he legs crossed, I feel that keeps your eyes circling the sculpture and you look at it. Unlike the rest of his artwork being very bright and conceptual this sculpture is very realistic; from the facial structure to the skin tones colors and hair and clothing, everything seems to be ordinary. I believe he created this piece as the headline of his EGO exhibit. Ego is a persons sense of self-importance or self-esteem, to create a giant, precise reproduction of himself, I believe is a way of him acknowledging how great he is at his craft and being self aware of the creative abilities he possesses. The three art pieces contain many similarities and