Takashi Murakami - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York Thursday, June 24, 2021 | Phillips
  • "Murakami has consistently adopted this appropriation of the gruesome for comic–or kawaii–effect. Indeed, the skull–atomic or not is a constantly recurring theme in the artists work. Skulls appear in everything from large colorful canvases–half Disney, half Cambodian Killing Fields to the tin he designed recently as a container for Frisk mints. Producing art that can be bought for pennies in a convenience store or for millions in an auction house is one of the quintessential tenants of the “Superflat theory.”"
    —David Pilling

    • Provenance

      Gagosian Gallery, New York
      Private Collection (acquired from the above)
      Sotheby's, Hong Kong, June 8, 2018, lot 136
      Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      New York, Gagosian Gallery, In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow, November 10–January 17, 2015

    • Artist Biography

      Takashi Murakami

      Japanese • 1962

      Takashi Murakami is best known for his contemporary combination of fine art and pop culture. He uses recognizable iconography like Mickey Mouse and cartoonish flowers and infuses it with Japanese culture. The result is a boldly colorful body of work that takes the shape of paintings, sculptures and animations.

      In the 1990s, Murakami founded the Superflat movement in an attempt to expose the "shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture." The artist plays on the familiar aesthetic of mangas, Japanese-language comics, to render works that appear democratic and accessible, all the while denouncing the universality and unspecificity of consumer goods. True to form, Murakami has done collaborations with numerous brands and celebrities including Kanye West, Louis Vuitton, Pharrell Williams and Google.

      View More Works

376

Hollow

signed and dated "TAKASHI 2014.OCT.30" on the overlap
acrylic on canvas
55 3/4 x 47 in. (141.6 x 119.4 cm)
Painted in 2014.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$120,000 - 180,000 

Sold for $170,100

Contact Specialist

Rebekah Bowling
Head of Day Sale, Afternoon Session
New York

1 212 940 1250
rbowling@phillips.com

 

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session

New York Auction 24 June 2021