Oversized and Oversexed, Murakami Mines the Past With Racy New Gagosian Show in London

 Takashi Murakami has a confidence crisis. Perhaps bored with the Manga imagery always associated with his name, the Jeff Koons of Japan clearly wants to prove in his new Gagosian show in gallery his artistic roots reach further than the relatively recent Anime culture. This is most apparent in four triptychs that pay imitative homage to the turn-of-the-century painter Kuroda Seiki, best known for having introduced Western style of painting to Japan. One of Murakami's triptychs is a copy of Kuroda's own "Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment," a 1900 composition of three realistic female nudes to which Murakami has boldly added a double signature: "Seiki Kuroda – Takashi Murakami 1899-2010." The claim for a lineage couldn't be more explicit. READ MORE (artinfo)