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Rethinking Murakami Takashis Art Practice: Artists Survival and Restructuring of the Art World
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- Authors
- Issue Date
- 2023-10-31
- Citation
- Seoul Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol.9 No.1, pp.123-151
- Keywords
- survival of artists ; Superflat ; Japanese modern and contemporary art ; global art market ; myth of artist ; Kaikai Kiki Co. Ltd. ; Geisai
- Abstract
- Discussions on Murakami Takashi have revolved around the two axes that
are often considered to sharply contradict one another—the artists commercial success
and formalistic or artistic value of his works. Murakami himself, however, did not see
the two as conflicting or incompatible. By the time he entered the contemporary art
world as an artist, the art markets speculative nature had intensified and Japanese art
world was experiencing a greater crisis caused by the collapse of Japans bubble
economy under the power of globalization. These changes in the art scene drove
Murakami and his contemporaries into an unprecedented crisis of surviving as artists.
Despite the significance of the issue as it challenges the art market and artistic values,
Japanese mainstream art world has long been almost indifferent to it. Nor had this issue
been discussed in art criticisms or artist studies, even in those on Murakami Takashi.
With a recognition that it would not be possible to fully understand Murakamis
commercial success or artistic accomplishments without taking into consideration the
issue of artist survival, this study sought to examine anew the trajectory of Murakamis
thoughts and activities. This is to avoid reaching a hasty conclusion that condemns the
artist as only commercial, and to more closely scrutinize how the global market
transformed conditions for artists survival, how it has grown by commodifying and
exploiting art, and how artists have positioned themselves and operated within the
market. To this end, this article extended from typical analysis of Murakamis works to
encompass his omnidirectional activities as an artist, curator, writer, critic, art educator,
entrepreneur, and more, and reviewed his statements made through various media. By
doing so, this study highlighted how the artist constantly surfaced the issue of
sustaining artists, not as a group of multiple individuals but as a collective group, and
acted out in various ways to restructure the art world.
- ISSN
- 2384-2849
- Language
- English
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