Art Harangue Deferred

About five years ago there was a public art installation at Rockefeller Center of a sculpture by Takashi Murakami called Tongari-Kun; which evidently translates from the Japanese as “Mr. Pointy.” Cute, I thought at the time, nice display; whimsical and festive; perfect for that particular location. In the interim Mr. Murakami has established himself as some sort cash cow of the Asian art world and a comprehensive retrospective of his work has been installed in 18,500 square feet of gallery space at the Brooklyn Museum.

Mr. Pointy is, indeed, part of the exhibition. I guess I should be bemused by this turn of events but, for a while, I was fairly outraged. I initially wrote quite a tirade expressing my feelings about WHAT IS ART AND WHAT AIN’T, but I’ve reconsidered and my umbrage has cooled to puzzlement. I suppose there is precedence for this sort of thing; Andy Warhol immediately pops to mind and, to a degree, Keith Haring, but I think those two artists, in their prime, were pretty much thumbing their noses at what was, and still is, an on-going art “establishment.”

Murakami has taken it to the brink of insanity with his subversion of Japanese anime (animation) and manga (comic books). Rather than give you a whole bunch of scholarly reasons why I think this exhibition does not belong at the Brooklyn Museum (in the same building that houses one of the most breathtaking Rodin collections in the world), I will just say this: it’s cute, nicely displayed, whimsical and festive. I did not, however, buy the coffee cup.

Oh, that reminds me, Mr. Murakami has designed a bunch of stuff for Louis Vuitton and there is an in-exhibition shop selling handbags for $2,210 and wall hangings for $10,000. The overall title of the show is © MURAKAMI and that little copyright symbol says it all.

This is the banner for the show. Get my drift?






Update: May 30, 2008: Houseguest's request got me back to this exhibit. My opinion hasn't changed from my first impressions but one thing is different. Someone else must have thought this exhibit through and now, arrayed discreetly behind "Mr. Pointy" at the front entrance are a dozen Rodin sculptures. I'm not saying I had the least influence on this decision but, hey, ya know?