The PinchukArtCentre has the honour to present the solo exhibition of Takashi Murakami, one of the Mentor artists of the Future Generation Art Prize. The show will be on display from October 30, 2010 till January 9, 2011.

For this show embedded to the context of the Future Generation Art Prize Takashi Murakami made 2 new works, the wall paper and the new painting, combining them with 3 other iconic works: Funky flowers, Mr. DOB in a strange forest and Emperor with new clothes. The exhibition demonstrates his deep rooted foundation in the Japanese culture tradition and his strong connection to the contemporary Japanese pop-culture.

Murakami was searching for a more broad-based cultural appraisal, however, and returned to a more congenial figure he had devised shortly before leaving Japan: a large-headed creature with round ears, ‘o’-shaped mouth and diminutive body he christened Mr. DOB, who was to form one of the cast of characters that have populated Murakami’s oeuvre throughout the subsequent fifteen years. Together with the white-suited Kaikai, the three-eyed Kiki, and the horn-crowned Mr. Pointy, Mr. DOB provided the basis for an ever-metamorphosing fantasy world, accompanied by wreaths of smiley-faced flowers, comical mushrooms and graphically rendered daisy-eyed skulls.

Adapting the meticulous painting techniques learned from his traditional education, Murakami set about creating a hybrid contemporary art form that was derived from, but also continued to compound and explore, aspects of historical and contemporary Japanese culture, not only for native audiences, but also as a valuable export capable of articulating the sensibility of post-war Japanese culture to non-Japanese audiences.

Eckhard Schneider, the General Director of the PinchukArtCentre: “Inspired by Takashi Murakami's Geisai prize, the Future Generation Art Prize expresses the vision of Victor Pinchuk, its founder, to create a global artprize for a future generation of artists. For this reason Takashi was invited to be the first Patron artist to present his works in a solo exhibition along with works of the young artists shortlisted for the Future Generation Art Prize 2010”.

To encourage the assistance of one generation of artists to the next, a group of renowned Mentor artists including Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami, committed its long-term participation in the Future Generation Art Prize. They will be providing in-person counsel and support to the Prize winners. According to the concept of the Prize one of the Mentor artists will have a parallel show at the same time as each biannual exhibition of the shortlisted artists for the Future Generation Art Prize will be taking place.

International brand NEMIROFF – partner of the PinchukArtCentre.
SAMSUNG – technical partner of the PinchukArtCentre.
Top NET – Internet-partner.