Takashi Murakami
Bard Center for Curatorial Studies
Though the works of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, et al. long ago settled comfortably into the canon, the spores germinating from their carcasses may have left even the most sympathetic, Pop-attuned viewers rather eye-glazed. Just about every earthly enclave that today sustains the battle-weary culture of “high” contemporary art has been overtaken by the slick of “Neo-Pop.” Japanese artist Takashi Murakami’s work as a painter, sculptor, “conceptual” impresario, and unapologetic, indeed gleeful vendor of pop-cultural effluvia may seem all too easily accommodating when it comes to the sort of