Blog
©Murakami @ the Brooklyn Museum
DYS in Fashion Splash, Featured — April 22nd, 2008 (209 views / Print this article )
As most of you have already heard, Brooklyn museum is currently exhibiting Takashi Murakami’s works between 1991 and 2000, when the artist began exploring “his own reality through an investigation of branding and identity”. The exhibition opened about two weeks ago in Brooklyn New York, after completing its previous showcase in Los Angeles. Popularly known as the Japanese Warhol, Murakami has earned an international reputation for merging fine art with popular Japanese anime films and manga cartoons. The show, entitled “©Murakami”, includes a fully operational Louis Vuitton store selling some of his monogram multicolor designs for the luxury fashion brand. “Monogramouflage“, a new pattern created by Murakami for Vuitton (hit stores in June), is currently available only at the Brooklyn Museum. Trying to bring awareness about the counterfeit giant ring, LV set up ten Canal Street* style vendors outside the museum on its first opening night, not to sell fakes but authentic Louis Vuitton products including the Monogramouflage line. *Canal Street is New York’s famous Chinatown where fake designer products are usually sold, semacam Mangga Dua-nya NY.
Marc Jacobs and model Eva Herzigova in front of LV street-style store, courtesy of nytimes.com. Click here to view more pictures of its opening night.
I’m not a big fan of LV Murakami, especially after seeing Jessica Simpson toting one around, but I do admire his works (especially his anime/manga characters!). I saw his last exhibition in New York at the Rockefeller center a couple of years ago and was totally impressed by his arts, so definitely I wouldn’t miss the one in Brooklyn. I tried to avoid the first opening week since it would be overcrowded, and chose to go there last Sunday after a quick brunch. Although we weren’t allowed to take any pictures, demi FD tersayang, I kept on pushing my hubby to take the risk and he managed to get some for us hehe.. ;D
Louis Vuitton store inside the Murakami exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum
The exhibition is mostly showing Murakami’s contemporary works using Superflat method, a term that Murakami created as his own manifesto on the way various forms of graphic design, pop culture, and fine arts are compressed or flattened. He first used it to name an exhibition which he organized in Tokyo and Nagoya (artnet.com). Most of his paintings are two-dimensional without any shades and shadows, clearly emphasizing his Superflat genre. A hint of Andy Warhol’s pop art influence was also seen on his paintings. Some of his characters, portrayed into sculpture figurines, seem to be coming out of another world, while some others simply reminded me of Hentai ;D My favorite is Inochi, Murakami’s innovative creature, an alien boy sculpture that stands about 5 feet, and his short videos showing Inochi in various scenes in a Japanese classroom. Watch the video here.
Inochi, my favorite of all Murakami’s characters
Since the LV Murakami collection is way out of my budget, my visit wouldn’t be complete without visiting the museum gift store. Some of his artwork paintings in the gift store were all sold out. People seem to be eyeing for his stuffed animals/characters, pins, t-shirts, eco bag and books. As for myself, I got a cute Murakami printed scarf and a couple of badge pins =)
Below are some pictures from the exhibition, please click on THUMBNAILS ! *Maaf ya kalo rada miring-miring fotonya, karena motretnya aja ngumpet-ngumpet dan satpam nya mayan galak ;D
Last pic, Murakami’s shopping bag next to the Egyptian monk was not inside the Murakami’s exhibition, but around the Egyptian exhibition in the same museum.
Sources : gothamist.com, artnet.com, brooklynmuseum.org, nitrolicious.com, highsnobiety.com, nytimes.com, shift.jp.org, youtube.com, Photos courtesy of nytimes.com and ZA.
©Murakami at the Brooklyn museum, April 5th - July 13th 2008, for more info click here. For more pictures, click here.
There are 25 comments for this entry. Add yours
djoelia
thanks banget for sharing…
btw, good job on taking those photos!!
still look good even it was candid.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:12 am
Lindy wirasati
Thanks DYS for wonderfull candid pics…
Marc jacobs sama Mbak Eva Herzigova sekali-kali boleh juga mampir ke canal street blok M….Lebih rame koq
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
rere
Selama ini gue taunya Murakami yang di LV aja, tau2nya karya lainnya juga menarik ya. Demen banget tuh liat si dinosaurus ijo di foto paling bawah. Thanks for the pictures ya… suami lo hebat juga motret ngumpet2 tapi tetep bagus. Lain kali ke Nuyok kita maen2 ke museum juga yuk, biar gue melek seni sedikit
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:18 am
tje2p
muah muah… DYS, tengkiuuu… for taking risk & share it with us… gw suka bola-bola kembangnya… *kok jadi inget kembang gula?!?*
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
mir@cle
DYS…many thanks to you and your husband.. untung ga sampe dimarahin satpam kan?
jadi kita bisa liat deh Murakami’s wonderful artworks 
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Lena
Wohoo, apa sih nggak dilakuin u/ FD ya:D Untung nggak ada foto kalian lagi di meseum jail haha.
Not really a fan of pop art though, and Murakami’s seem too commercial somehow…
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:57 am
silperlintje
wow!!! Hebat kamu, DYS. Makasih udah bagi2 info, dan tentunya buat usaha kamu & hubby. Love you
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
sisil
Mba DYS, thank you for sharing! Maaci juga foto2nya!
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
h_nana
keren2…
DYS jarang posting tp skalinya posting kerennn hehe
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
vitsky
OMG DYS! Hebaattt..bisa colongan foto tp hasilnya tetep keliatan pro gitu! Gue juga kesana wkt exhibition yg di MOCA LA, dan udah gemeeesss banget pgn foto2… tp tak berhasil! Untung ada elo.. thanks ya DYS!
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
vitsky
Oiya, ngomong2 Hentai, sculptures yg “mewakilkan” Hentai nya ga mungkin dipost disini ya? Hahaha.. gue sampe yg bengong2 gitu ngeliatnya! Hihihi..
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Koukla
This is cool! Terus terang gue belum pernah denger tuh Murakami sebelumnya, kalo diliat dari foto2nya sih kayaknya gue udah familiar sama karyanya tp gak tau nama artistnya
Btw itu lucu bgt yah ide jualan tas LV ala Canal Street itu…Mungkin nanti2 ada pameran Bobbi Brown ala lapak2 kosmetik di ITC Kuningan, hihihi
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
loucee
aduh dysss… KEREN banget exhibitionnya!
last year, murakami juga bikin exhibition here in Newcastle. but it was a small one.. a collaboration with other japanese artists. itupun gue udah excited abiiss that i had to go back to the museum for like 3 times in a week!
but anyway, thanks for sharing this with us.
ingin sekali ke NY dan melihat langsung exhibitionnya… huhuhu…:(
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Lorelai
Love Murakami’s work!
Btw…
“I’m not a big fan of LV Murakami, especially after seeing Jessica Simpson toting one around”
LOL DYS!!! Seriously..
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
chelinx
mata gue yg mulai meredup jadi melek lagi ngeliat photo-photo exhibitionnya.
duh itu deretan tas LV sama boneka berkuping dua menggoda banget utk di adopsi yaks
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 pm
DYS
heuhe teman2 makasi yahh komen2x nya.. suami gw seneng tuh dipuji poto2xnya :P..itu smua uda dipilihin dr bbg poto yg byk BLUR.. hehe
kerjasama kita berdua, gw nutupin dia, sambil liat kiri kanan ama satpam2 nya.. ada yg sambil duduk pura2 merhatiin lukisan pdhal lg moto 
seru juga.. ntar ada lagi pameran superhero di museum sini jg.. tak usahain di post utk FD =)
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:45 pm
DYS
vitsky: heuhe yg HENTAI di sensor siy.. gw jg terbengong2 liatnya.. kan byk yg bawa anak kecil tuh, ortunya sampe bingung jelasin ke anaknya.. ada yg sampe tutup mata haha
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Iswi
Dyyysss… mau kesana juga untung masih ada waktu sampe July 13th , thx infonya Disty
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:27 am
tinkerbell
wah hebat lo DYS bisa moto2 di dalem exhibition! tnyata pake usaha keras yah, hihihi.. keren2 fotonya, i love murakami, especially his cherry blossom line, that one is my fave.
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
uber
DYS, seneng baca artikel nya sama cerita soal ambil poto2 colongan hihihihihih
Lucu2 bangettt karya2nya yaaaaa
April 24th, 2008 at 1:48 am
nycbelle
Dys, mau kesana lagi ga yuuuk kesana yuk hehehe.. cuma deket dr rumahku ilive di prak slope;)). weekend ini aku ke sana.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Iswi
nycbelle… kita tele2 yaqh nanti sebelum berangkat biar bisa bareng kesana …
April 25th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
DYS
nycbelle & Iswi : wah bole juga tuh kesana lagi bareng.. tp gw br kesana minggu lalu.. ntar bareng aja skalian pas meet up lagi ama cewe2 FD pas summer.. exhibition nya sampe juli kan..
April 25th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Happineesh
astagaaa….mau banget liat pamerannyaaa…keren2 banget artworknyaaa huhuh thanks for sharing dys!
April 28th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
twinkle
aduhh bagusnaaaa, lucu itu bonekanya
thanks for sharing DYS
foto2na bagus2 kayak pro *thumbs up*
May 5th, 2008 at 5:50 pm