Art HK ’12: David LaChapelle – “Seismic Shift” @ Paul Kasmin

When attending top-tiered fairs such as Art HK, one can expect to encounter many notable works by some of the top names in the industry. Once in a while, a piece will stop you to take a closer look. Famed photographer David LaChapelle submitted a photograph that took front and center at Paul Kasmin’s booth. Entitled Seismic Shift, the ginormous photograph measured ten by four feet and it wasn’t the size that caught our eye, but its contents. LaChapelle’s latest creation drew upon many of the current significant artists in contemporary art such as Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Yue Minjun, Babara Kruger, Andreas Gursky, and of course Andy Warhol.

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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)