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NEWS: Murakami Gets US$15M for Controversial Figure Auction


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Chrno2



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6172
Location: USA
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:54 am Reply with quote
Ah yes, THAT piece. I wonder who bought it?

It's very "in-your-face".

I'll be visiting exhibition very soon before it ends. I saw the last exhibit at the Japan Society, so I want to see what's on dispay at this event.
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omnistry



Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 1019
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:22 am Reply with quote
Are they up in arms because of the content, or because it was bought in the States? If it's the former, might I remind these Web Geeks that they are the same people who buy miniature versions of these statues? You know, the ones with the girls and the detailed panties (and sometimes no panties at all)?

Takashi Murakami can do anything he wants, IMO. For a man to be able to reinvent Louis Vutton and to bring Japanimation to the forefront in the hip hop community (got the "Graduation" album cover on my wall Anime smile) he has the skill to make the most wildest of imaginative things (even if it's something as, um, strange as a lasso of goo). There's are reasons why he's on Time Magazine's Most Influential 100, and these statues are just one of them.
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BleuVII



Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 672
Location: Tokorozawa, Japan
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:33 am Reply with quote
Personally, I don't get it. I meant, aside from the controversial aspects, the artistry involved in these statues isn't that great. It's not even at the level of Square Enix's Play Arts figurines, which are mass produced and available commercially. Can somebody explain to me why this piece is as popular as it is?
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TJM



Joined: 21 Mar 2008
Posts: 47
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:36 am Reply with quote
It's "ART" , dude Rolling Eyes
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BleuVII



Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 672
Location: Tokorozawa, Japan
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 9:50 am Reply with quote
Oh, well in that case...
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albanian



Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Posts: 133
Location: UK
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 10:26 am Reply with quote
BleuVII wrote:
Personally, I don't get it. I meant, aside from the controversial aspects, the artistry involved in these statues isn't that great. It's not even at the level of Square Enix's Play Arts figurines, which are mass produced and available commercially. Can somebody explain to me why this piece is as popular as it is?


“We want to see the newest things. That is because we want to see the future, even if only momentarily. It is the moment in which, even if we don’t completely understand what we have glimpsed, we are nonetheless touched by it. This is what we have come to call ‘art’.”

from ‘A Theory of Super Flat Japanese Art’ - printed in “Super Flat”: Murakami Takashi (2000)

Just thought you would like to know!
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Big Hed



Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 1607
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 10:26 am Reply with quote
TJM wrote:
It's "ART" , dude Rolling Eyes


Even simpler: it's controversy.
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LondinCalling



Joined: 26 Feb 2004
Posts: 122
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 10:59 am Reply with quote
A friend of mine went to this gallery. Ironically there are kids doing field trips there and everything. All of them like anime so I'm sure its a major suprise when "ejacustatue" shows up . I imagine half of 'em saying, "What's he doin?".

Never would I see the worth in his work unless maybe there's something I don't know about. Is his technique something to behold? I know those statues are quite big, I think life size. These pieces are definately a statement of the times in a sense.

Some nerds/kids like hentai. Simple as that. Beneath the anime fandom is hentai fandom. It's not like everyone likes it but it is certainly an aspect. Chances are Murakami isn't looking this far into it. (He only did the male one cause someone suggested he should) I think he makes nice purse designs or something. I'm sure as a graphic artist he's great(since many japanese artitsts are). He has definately done something to distinguish himself. This is certainly going to change the face of art collection for a time being I'm sure. 15 mil for hentai statues? Sign me up!
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midorihebi



Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 26
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 11:29 am Reply with quote
I remember seeing that statue when the exhibit was in Los Angeles. Some of Murakami's artwork is amazing, what with all the detail that goes into them. That one was just...odd. It, along with the female statue, was definitely not something I expected to see as soon as I entered the exhibit. -.-
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LiuXuande



Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 201
Location: Chicago
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 12:21 pm Reply with quote
TJM wrote:
It's "ART" , dude Rolling Eyes


Aka stupid for the sake of being stupid. Like those "art" displays of crazy drugged up, stuck up hippies of questionable appearance shooting themselves in the foot, and then saying "got a problem with it? you don't understand AHHHHHHTTT"

This is so retarded, I can't believe some idiot would actually pay $15M for it.
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7424
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 1:10 pm Reply with quote
BleuVII wrote:
I meant, aside from the controversial aspects, the artistry involved in these statues isn't that great. It's not even at the level of Square Enix's Play Arts figurines, which are mass produced and available commercially.


That's probably because things tend to be lost in translation when pentagraphed up from one scale to another. Figure sculptors tend to work large then shrink a figure down to it's correct scale which does a lot to make details stick out. On the other hand statue sculptors tend to work with a small maquette first and then scale up to the full size statue which has a tendency to do more to obscure the details. Not to mention naked anime characters tend to be lacking in details anyway and he seemed to be going for "animated" over detailed.

I guess this statue is only a little worse than his Hiropon statue of a naked girl with big breasts jump-roping with her own milk stream.

Emerje
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Sklathill



Joined: 02 Sep 2002
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 1:16 pm Reply with quote
One thing people haven't mentioned is that many art collectors see art more as an investment than as the art itself. There's more than a few people that probably were thinking that this content + this style can be even more valued in the future. Recently there's been a boom in art investment that's been covered in most of the major media outlets...
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 2:21 pm Reply with quote
LiuXuande wrote:

This is so retarded, I can't believe some idiot would actually pay $15M for it.
Wait till you see the idiot what buys it later for $25M. Wink I'd like to be so retarded. Wink
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Gingy



Joined: 14 May 2008
Posts: 57
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 2:29 pm Reply with quote
Anyone know where I can find the pic for the female one? Just curious...
If the male statue is supposed to go with a female one...I can only imagine that the reason that he's creating a 'lasso' is to use it to tie up the female counterpart...ooo maybe the same person who bought this statue would also try to get a female figure as well to go with it.

Anyways this thing is the same thing as that Michelangelo statue, you know, the white statue with the weewee showing. This is the same thing as all of those Renassance pictures you see on their ceilings really. Its not better or no worse. Its controversial, but so were THOSE arts. Its well dont and proportioned.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 2:43 pm Reply with quote
Gingy wrote:
Anyone know where I can find the pic for the female one? Just curious...
If the male statue is supposed to go with a female one...I can only imagine that the reason that he's creating a 'lasso' is to use it to tie up the female counterpart...ooo maybe the same person who bought this statue would also try to get a female figure as well to go with it.

Anyways this thing is the same thing as that Michelangelo statue, you know, the white statue with the weewee showing. This is the same thing as all of those Renassance pictures you see on their ceilings really. Its not better or no worse. Its controversial, but so were THOSE arts. Its well don't and proportioned.
How could something commissioned by the Pope be "controversial"? I believe you're referring to the statue of "David"? His "weewee" exists for anatomical correctness. You can't say that about that "lasso". Rolling Eyes
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