The 9th solo show by Murakami will display in particular a set of new paintings featuring his famous alter-ego Mr. Dob. Xavier Veilhan, for this exhibition "Mobiles", conceived a new type of mobile, exploiting the qualities of lightness and rigidity of square-section carbon tubes.
TAKASHI MURAKAMI
The exhibition in Hong Kong (21 May - 6 July 2013), is the 9th solo show by
Takashi Murakami organized by Galerie Perrotin in 20 years of collaboration,
that will display in particular a set of new paintings featuring his famous alter-
ego Mr. Dob and self-portraits of the artist surrounded by his emblematic
characters including Kaikai and Kiki with epure backgrounds of skulls pattern.
After earning his Doctorate in Nihonga painting from Tokyo University of the
Arts, Takashi Murakami developed a unique protean style which associated
the most modern of techniques with the precision and virtuosity of traditional
Japanese art and that of Ukiyo-e engraving in particular. Inspired by Manga and
Kawaii culture, his irresistible world is peopled by monstrous and charming
characters, facetious descendants of past myths. His theory of the Superflat
aesthetic, which he introduced in 2000, attempts to blur the frontiers between
popular art and grand art. The absence of perspective, the two-dimensionality
of ancient Japanese art, filters in to every medium – paintings, sculptures,
prints/silk-screens, wallpaper, animated films and accessories.
Since his first monographic exhibition outside Japan in 1995 at Galerie Perrotin, Murakami has become recognized as one of the most prominent contemporary artists of his time, and his work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions at museums and art institutions throughout the world. In
2010, France’s renowned Château de Versailles organized an important
solo exhibition of his works on the palace grounds. In 2012, a retrospective
entitled “Murakami-Ego” was organized by QMA at Al Riwaq Exhibition Hall,
Doha, Qatar and included the 100m masterpiece painting “The 500 Arhats”.
In 2013, the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art / Plateau, Seoul will organize
an important solo show of his works, “Takashi in Superflat Wonderland”.
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XAVIER VEILHAN
“Mobiles”
It is the first time that I exclusively show mobiles in an exhibition. I conceived
a great majority of them for the occasion. Without being able to really explain
why, I believe that it is the aerial position of the Galerie Perrotin in Hong
Kong which inspired this ethereal set. The mobiles imply precision and
compliance with the rules of physics but paradoxically live in an infinity of
combinations of forms inside this established program. They are the image of the
interaction between art and reality. For this exhibition, I conceived a new type of
mobile, exploiting the qualities of lightness and rigidity of square-section carbon
tubes. The balance of each set is not the only element of the work that seems han)
unnatural, but also the way in which each component is like a graphic pattern
converting itself into a three-dimensional shape, integrated into reality, despite
the laws of physics.”
Xavier Veilhan solo show “Mobiles” organized by Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong
from 21 May to 6 July 2013 gathers a group of recent or never seen mobiles
of different various shapes and dimensions.
Xavier Veilhan creates exhibitions in the form of wanderings and site specific d’habitation
interventions, in cities, parks or living environments :“Veilhan Versailles”, Château 30
de Versailles, 2009; “Veilhan at Hatfield: Promenade”, 2012; “Architectones”,
Los Angeles, 2012-2013, at the Neutra VDL House and at the Sheats-Goldstein
Residence; Future “Architectones” include the roof of Le Corbusier’s Cité
Radieuse Unité d’habitation in Marseille (1952), inauguration of MAMO by
Ora-ïto, Marseille, from 8 June to 30 September 2013; Ste-Bernadette du
Banlay Church (1966) by Claude Parent and Paul Virilio in Nevers, France;
The Barcelona Pavillon by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1929) and Konstantin
Melnikov’s House (1929) in Moscow. Veilhan is a multidisciplinary artist. He
is possessed of a highly personal artistic universe inhabited by a heterodox
range of characters, objects and animals.
Through complex devices, the playful
component emerges as a fundamental element in evoking a reality peopled with
symbols, metaphors and other semantic ambiguities. Veilhan turns his gaze on
the past to deconstruct classical genres and iconographies: a reinvention of the
equestrian portrait, the setting up of a distinctive bestiary based on traditional
canons or the transformation of the imaginary of the vanitas into objects akin
to a pop aesthetic ... in an approach that seeks communion with the viewer
in an overall experience.
For Veilhan, the possibilities of representation and the art of the exhibition are
part of his leitmotif, the ultimate live performance where his works function as
part of a greater machinery.
Opening: May 21
Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong 貝浩登
50 Connaught Road Central, 17th Floor
Hong Kong
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 11–8pm
Admission free