On a wet mid-Could morning, Takashi Murakami arrived on the Cleveland Museum of Artwork to inaugurate Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow, one among his largest American exhibitions in 20 years. With greater than 100 work and sculptures, the exhibition provides not solely a extra full understanding of the famed Japanese artist at present but in addition brings his converging timelines and aesthetics full circle.
The exhibition was initially introduced at Los Angeles’s The Broad in 2022, and since then it’s been expanded with new works — most notably, a reproduction of the traditional Yumedono temple within the museum’s atrium.
Whereas the sounds of hammers and drills reverberated via the still-unopened exhibit, Murakami was calm and targeted, seated in a quiet eating room behind the museum. As what some would possibly name “elevator music” performed ever so softly, Murakami paused to ask if the music might be shut off so he may element the exhibition’s inspiration in silence.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
“By stepping on the tail of the rainbow, I hoped that will then unexpectedly lead you to come across a brand new world.”
Along with referencing his 82-foot-long portray from 2014, “Within the Land of the Useless, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow,” Murakami cited the cinematic affect of Akira Kurosawa’s The Males Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1952). “Stepping on the tiger’s tail would imply that you just’re stepping on one thing you shouldn’t,” Murakami defined. “Your motion, which was maybe insignificant, has brought about a significant consequence. On this case, by stepping on the tail of the rainbow, I hoped that will then unexpectedly lead you to come across a brand new world.”
In line with Murakami, “Within the Land of the Useless, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow” was additionally impressed by an earlier work by Sixteenth-century Japanese painter Soga Shōhaku, who additional drew from the traditional Taoist idea of “immortals.” The artist created the large canvas within the wake of Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as he discovered himself pondering Japan’s spirituality and its multinational influences.
“Japan has at all times been importing faith and tradition from locations like India, China, and even from Western nations, and mixing them up into our personal tradition. However in opposition to the backdrop of that, the nation is vulnerable to pure disasters, and lots of people die without delay, regularly.” He understands this as core to Japan’s pantheistic custom with its myriad gods, in addition to its animistic values, which view nature as a non secular pressure, “together with rainbows.”
There’s certainly one thing sacred and transcendental in regards to the exhibit, which locations the Yumedono temple reproduction firstly, guiding guests inside, the place 4 new large-scale work cowl the partitions: “Blue Dragon Kyoto,” “Vermillion Fowl Kyoto,” “White Tiger Kyoto,” and “Black Tortoise Kyoto.”
The unique constructing in Nara, Japan, is believed to be on the identical web site as Prince Shōtoku Taishi’s dwelling, a royal credited with selling Buddhism in Japan throughout the late 500s CE. As we speak, Nara’s Yumedono homes a seventh-century statue of the Prince, believed to hold therapeutic powers.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Nevertheless, Murakami, identified for his stylistic reinterpretation, symbolism, and playful irony, isn’t closely involved with historic accuracy. As an alternative, he embraces how metaphors and abstractions, like his kawaii characters, can convey emotion and that means in impactful methods.
For instance this, he repeatedly circles again to the cinematic language of Shōgun, produced by American creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo. “I noticed that the interval drama doesn’t must observe historic information precisely. It might probably categorical them in another way and nonetheless successfully convey the ideas.”
Recounting a extremely dramatized temple scene, he mentioned, “The ceiling was approach too excessive, and the house was humongous — so you possibly can inform that it wasn’t traditionally correct, nevertheless it confirmed the ability of the then Shōgun, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The visible grammar labored, and I used to be moved by it.”
As you progress out of the Yumedono reproduction and enter the decrease galleries, you’re shortly reminded that Murakami’s work occupies a singular house between East and West, previous and future, tragedy and euphoria, and cute and creepy. In a single room, a big, shiny sculpture of his ubiquitous flower motif is put in near the ceiling, angled downward and smiling on the spectator like a distant idol within the sky. In one other hall, anime-inspired characters Kaikai and Kiki are blown as much as monumental proportions, like a pair of sphinxes defending an historical web site. In the identical room, the place his lighthearted NFT art work and enlarged Manga sculptures are displayed, different items make heavier impacts, like “100 Arhats” (2013), which Murakami painted in response to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami with references to pre-modern Japanese artwork types.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
David Brichford ©️takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
At this juncture of Murakami’s profession, he says, “I really feel that I’ve extra freedom to precise no matter I select,” however his largest battle is his boredom. “Lots of people ask me to create flower work, and I’ve to make them, however I get bored simply. So, the query is, how do I escape from this sort of boredom and routine?”
Murakami views his profession like a tv sequence: his story arc mimics that of a bingeable present’s protagonist, with main main-character moments, necessary facet plots, and myriad supporting personalities. After establishing his place within the up to date artwork scene together with his signature “Superflat” model within the early aughts, he’s since introduced renewed focus to his background in conventional Japanese artwork types. Nevertheless, he’s concurrently challenged himself to make use of novel applied sciences like NFTs and the digital realm of the “metaverse.”
“While you first encounter minimal up to date artwork, you usually don’t know what you’re . It’s very mysterious. After which, while you suppose you perceive one thing, you see a very completely different panorama.”
The artist has even spoken brazenly about utilizing Generative AI, not merely as a one-stop store for artwork making however as an assist in creating ideas of their early phases. When experimenting with know-how, Murakami references Twentieth-century French conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp, a controversial determine for his subversive artwork utilizing discovered objects, together with urinals.
“While you first encounter minimal up to date artwork, you usually don’t know what you’re . It’s very mysterious. After which, while you suppose you perceive one thing, you see a very completely different panorama. When Duchamp began his idea, after all, folks didn’t perceive immediately. It took many, a few years,” he mentioned. “However when some type of know-how explodes in a given second, there’s significance to it, so I often respect it. And if I’m , I at all times intend to get actively engaged.”
Murakami’s work has at all times revelled within the tensions of modernity, particularly the methods know-how has dramatically reshaped tradition. Nevertheless, as he’s embraced modalities of the long run, his art work has as a substitute reached additional into the depths of historical past, tying his colourful spectrum of historic references collectively.
A couple of minutes after our dialog, the clouds lastly let up, and the solar flooded the room with heat mild. With a steaming cup of inexperienced tea in entrance of him, Murakami widened his eyes with delight and despatched a comfortable smile throughout the room.
Stepping on the Tail of Rainbow might be on view on the Cleveland Museum of Artwork from Could 25 to September 7, 2025.
