Takashi Murakami's foray into superflat film officially began last month, with the premiere of his first feature-length movie, "Jellyfish Eyes." While American fans of the Japanese manga master struggle to find the independent film in a theater near them, there is another way to get your Murakami fix.
Takashi Murakami, Pom & Me: Sprouting a Tree from My Head, 2013, Acrylic on canvas mounted on board, 39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (100 x 100 centimeters), ©2013 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Image courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles.
The artist is currently hosting an exhibit at the Los Angeles gallery Blum & Poe, where a series of his self-portraits, sculptures and paintings will be on view. Titled "Arhat," a Sanskrit word for “a being who has achieved a state of enlightenment," the show features Murakami's signature large-scale, psychedelic motifs that includes an homage to his dog, Pom.
An entire room of the L.A. gallery is devoted to a series of self-portraits depicting the artist and his dog, including a stainless steel sculpture of the duo taking a nap. Other works in the show are considerably darker, featuring a group of sinister-looking monks and colorful demons, painted with a precise style reminiscent of traditional Japanese drawings. Of course, Murakami's usual smiling flowers and screen-printed skull imagery will also be on display, as the exhibit attempts to provide a quick overview of the artist's decades-long career.
Scroll through the slideshow below for a peek at "Arhat," on view in L.A. until May 25, 2013. What do you think, readers? Is Murakami's self-portrait all you imagined and more?
