Japanese artist Takashi Murakami opens exhibit in Ohio museum with more than 100 works

CLEVELAND -- Japanese modern creator Takashi Murakami has ne'er been constricted to 1 medium, creating paintings, sculptures, luxury goods with manner houses similar Louis Vuitton, medium covers and an exclusive merchandising collection with Major League Baseball.

Now, helium has filled a U.S. depository hallway with portraits successful each colour arsenic portion of an grounds opening Sunday astatine the Cleveland Museum of Art. “Takashi Murakami: Stepping connected the Tail of a Rainbow,” an update of an grounds archetypal shown successful Los Angeles, features much than 100 ranging works.

Murakami, known for his smiling rainbow-colored angiosperm icon, intentionally layered light-hearted themes with humanities events linked to trauma, helium told The Associated Press.

The creation explores the interaction of trauma connected radical and culture, said Ed Schad, curator and publications manager astatine modern creation depository The Broad successful Los Angeles.

The portraits "have humanities roots and that they could really archer you a batch astir what a nine is doing, however steadfast a nine is, what a nine is responding to,” Schad said. “What nine is responding to astir often successful this accumulation is the thought of trauma.”

One sculpture depicts Murakami and his canine with fractional of their bodies successful anatomical form, showing their bones and organs, portion the different fractional is their outward appearances. The sculpture, Pom and Me, is described arsenic Murakami’s mentation of his acquisition successful the West done the lens of his Japanese identity.

Square portraits featuring cartoonish flowers with facial expressions screen 1 partition of the exhibit, organized by inheritance colour to make a rainbow effect. One angiosperm is wiping a teardrop from its eye, portion different appears to beryllium a zombie. One has humor dripping from its mouth. One appears to beryllium successful awe watching fireworks.

Though determination are nary evidently nonstop ocular references to humanities events, the depository said the creation tin beryllium seen done the lens of 3 events successful Japanese history: the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States during World War II, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, starring to the Fukushima Daiichi atomic accident, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Murakami said it's a spot of a misunderstanding that his enactment “is precise casual and precise popular."

"But this is good due to the fact that this is 1 of my tricks,” helium said.

What idiosyncratic mightiness respect astir his creation arsenic a child, Murakami said, would apt not beryllium what is admired by an adult.

Before entering the grounds connected the little level of the museum, visitors tin locomotion done a mentation of the Yumedono, the octagonal-shaped gathering astatine Horyuji Temple successful Nara, Japan. Murakami said helium was inspired to make the operation aft viewing the 2024 tv bid “Shōgun.”

Inside the operation are 4 caller paintings — “Blue Dragon Kyoto,” “Vermillion Bird Kyoto,” “White Tiger Kyoto” and “Black Tortoise Kyoto” — created betwixt 2023 and 2025.

The ticketed grounds runs until aboriginal September.