사진 확대 Takashi Murakami “Summer Vacation Flowers under the Golden Sky” (2025). Gagosian
Flowers in full bloom are spread out like panoramas under a golden sky. The flower’s face is smiling broadly, and some seem to be flying in the breeze. It is “Summer Vacation Flowers under the Golden Sky” (2025), where Takashi Murakami, a world-renowned pop art master in Japan, drew nature and folktales on the background of a gold leaf by Ogata Gorin, a genius artist of the Edo period.
However, when I approached closely and looked closely, the screen of the gold foil was full of skull patterns that were not visible from afar. This is a reinterpretation of the peeled or damaged gold leaf in Ogata’s original work. The broad-smiling flowers seem to convey a message of dream and hope in an innocent and lively appearance, but the artist revealed the self-destructive consumption culture of modern society behind its splendor through the skeleton.
Takashi Murakami’s solo exhibition “Seoul, Cute Summer Vacation” will be held at the project space cabinet at the AmorePacific Museum of Art (APMA) in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, until October 11. It will feature about 10 new works, including paintings and sculptures based on the artist’s unique motif of “Smiling Flowers.”
The broad-smiling flower, which has been continuously appearing in his work since 1995, contains the artist’s “Superflat” philosophy. Superflat is an art trend created by Murakami about 20 years ago to criticize the shallow culture of postwar Japanese society, empty consumerism, sexual fetishism, and fear of growth through its “flat” two-dimensional image.
[Reporter Song Kyung Eun]
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