Murakami meditates on disaster

Having portrayed himself as a cartoonish Buddha and created a series of monumental portraits of the founder of Zen Buddhism, Takashi Murakami continues his transcendental meditations next month at Gagosian Gallery. On 10 November, the gallery opens a show at its 24th Street location of the Japanese artists latest work, which deals with the role of faith after a natural disaster, such as the earthquake that struck the Tohoku region of Japan in 2011. In the Land of the Dead: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow (until 17 January) includes an immersive installation, entered through a 56-ton replica of a sanmon (sacred gate) deliquescing clones of his fictional creature Mr Dob; and karajishi, the mythic lions that guard Japanese Buddhist temples, according to the gallery. To me, religions are a story, Murakami says in a statement. Natural catastrophes, earthquakes, are things caused by nature. Evil is natural, but we have to fight it somehow, and so we had to invent these deities, and I wanted to paint them.

From In The Frame Published online: 03 October 2014

The Muse d'Orsay in Paris has launched a crowdfunding appeal to raise funds for the conservation of Gustave Courbet's enormous 22 sq. m painting The Artist's Studio, 1855. The complex restoration will cost 600,000 but the museum hopes that the public will contribute at least 30,000 (more than 6,800 had rolled in on 2 October). Donors receive prestigious tokens of appreciation (5 gets you a mention on the museum website; a VIP dinner at the museum is yours for 2,500). Conservators will work on the painting in full view of the public. Courbet explained the composition, saying: "It's the whole world coming to me to be painted. On the right, all the shareholders, by that I mean friends, fellow workers, art lovers. On the left is the other world of everyday life, the masses, wretchedness, poverty, wealth, the exploited and the exploiters, people who make a living from death." The artist himself takes pride of place in the centre.

From In The Frame Published online: 02 October 2014

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Murakami meditates on disaster