Takashi Murakami Photo: Claire Dorn ©Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved
The Michel Majerus Estate new exhibition is Takashi Murakami: Michel Majerus Superflat, curated by Tobias Berger. Takashi Murakami (b. 1962) and Michel Majerus (1967–2002) both started exhibiting widely in the mid-1990s and can be considered the first generation of artists who fully embraced post-analog.
Takashi Murakami 6HP DOB Michel Majerus, 2019 Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame 216 x 348,5 cm ©2019 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of the artist studio and PERROTIN Photo: Jens Ziehe, Berlin
Strongly inspired by Michel Majerus’ treatment of street and computer culture, Murakami became interested in Majerus after observing that he was “much more mysterious” than his American counterparts, pushing forward from the “New Painting Movement” of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Having only discovered the works of Michel Majerus a few years ago, Takashi Murakami devoted three years to this series, which reveals not only the foresight of Michel Majerus as an artist but also how art, especially art of the Pop and post-Pop periods, is so relevant today.
Takashi Murakami Doraemon and Anywhere Door (Dokodemo Door): Happiness Is Always Being Together, 2019 Acrylic on canvas mounted on aluminum frame 160 x 140 cm ©2019 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. ©Fujiko-Pro. Courtesy of the artist studio and PERROTIN Photo: Jens Ziehe, Berlin
Murakami’s works lay bare how these first flirtations with popular culture have anticipated and shaped our contemporary world dominated by brands, slogans, franchised comic characters, Key Opinion Leaders, Internet memes and fake news, in turn shifting viewers’ perceptions of the image. Murakami is fascinated by Majerus because he, like Murakami, enjoyed the critical twist in this depiction, the twist that defined German art of the post-war generation, filtering global pop culture in a distinctly distanced way.
Installation view Takashi Murakami: Michel Majerus Superflat Michel Majerus Estate, Berlin, 2020 © Michel Majerus Estate, 2020, courtesy neugerriemschneider, Berlin © 2019-2020 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. ©Fujiko-Pro. Courtesy of the artist studio and PERROTIN Photo: Jens Ziehe, Berlin
One can observe this critical distance in Takashi Murakami’s works, which grew out of the same postwar generation, albeit on the other side of the world. This distance bred a love-hate relationship with the superficial proposal of pure Pop.
Installation view Takashi Murakami: Michel Majerus Superflat Michel Majerus Estate, Berlin, 2020 © Michel Majerus Estate, 2020, courtesy neugerriemschneider, Berlin © 2019-2020 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. ©Fujiko-Pro. Courtesy of the artist studio and PERROTIN Photo: Jens Ziehe, Berlin
Takashi Murakami: Michel Majerus Superflat curated by Tobias Berger September 12th, 2020 – February 26th, 2022 Open Saturdays 11 am – 6 pm and by appointment Extended opening hours Gallery Weekend Berlin Wednesday, September 9th – September 13th, 10 am – 7 pm Michel Majerus Estate michelmajerus.com
You can visit the Estate both during their regular hours and at other times upon arrangement just contact them in advance.
