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B. 1962
NIRVANA

overall: 110 1/4 by 220 1/2 in. 280 by 560 cm.

acrylic on canvas mounted on board, in four panels

Executed in 2001.

PROVENANCE

Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 2001

EXHIBITED

Tokyo, Museum of Contemporary Art, Takashi Murakami: Summon Monsters?, August 2001, illustrated twice in color

NOTE

From the beginning of Takashi Murakami's career, the influence of the methodology of simulationism has been evident. His projects/paintings attempt to simulate the starmaking system that exists in mass culture. Thus, characters such as Mr. DOB, Miss Ko2 and Miss Hiropon, who emerged as early as 1996, have exemplified this effort.

The phantasmagoric Mr DOB is arguably the most important of these characters, and has been described as the artist's alter-ego. This classical and very cartoon-like figure has been mutated through fusion and multiplication, to create a variety of characters ranging from the childish Mr. DOB representing innocence, to the demon-like Mr. DOB representing chaos.

Mr.DOB's name is the abbreviation of a nonsense phrase created by Murakami, which can be translated as "why?why?" Mr.DOB's world is one in which the question "why" multiplies in an infinite variety of forms and mutations forming a complex orchestration of ideas and images. Thus, the character can be considered Murakami's version of Mickey Mouse, suggesting the complexity of the social and cultural give-and-take between East and West in the post-war period. With his creation of Mr.DOB Murakami addresses Japanese contemporary culture while engaging the international community.

In Nirvana, Murakami shows the figures KaiKai and Kiki, cute brethren of Mr.DOB. In this very impressive four panel work we see the wonderful transmogrification from the decidedly aggressive Kiki to the sweet KaiKai. Additionally, the artist merges East and West by fusing modern animation and cartoons onto the traditional medium of the Japanse screen painting. Thus, Murakami challenges his audience to both think about where we have come from and where we are going. Murakami wants us to judge our own time within the continuum of history. (Adapted from: Yusuke Minami, Takashi Murakami: Summon Monsters?, Tokyo, 2001 ).