Murakami in Brooklyn

We were some of the first people in there on Sat. and we went straight to the merch. area because I was hoping to get a print....but, they were all sold out..I just said "oh well" and kept moving but some people were all pinched because they were not available for us. The dude I asked said the night before at the preview that people were straight lined up for a couple of hours because the prints weren't even there yet when the preview night started...It all sold out that night...prints, skateboards, cool stuff. All they had were those 16" x 16" frames with the LV camo print, those were an edition of 100. Those were 6,000 bucks and I wasn't trying to spend that much. As I was leaving I overheard dude working there say that they were supposed to get more prints in in a couple of days ....but at that point I was over it. Besides that, the show was dope.

 

hey cesar, went after work. I couldn't believe the lines to get tickets. BS that they charged for the show when everything in the museum is free on Sat. They also didn't let you take pics of the sculpture in the lobby which I did anyway. Snuck into the show too.

 

Museum is free on Satudays? I think I'd rather pay to get in than stand in that line. I'm sure it will be 5x as long as a regular day.

 

I have seen some articles on it already. What an amazing exhibition. Wish I was there.

 

I'm kind of trying to avoid the mess and not go in the first couple weeks. Anyone know how long this exhibit is going to be running.

 

July 13th

here's the museum info

 

if you go, you can get a dual pass to the museum and the botanical gardens, which I HIGHLY recommend. Make it an all-day affair!

 

Thanks CCP, I didn't know the show was a retrospective and has so much work. Looks awesome.

 

Got to check out the show last Friday. As soon as I dumped my luggage at my hotel, I was on a train to Brooklyn. As soon as I got off the train, I was greeted by some amazing cherry blossoms.



They seemed to have loosened up at the prospect of people taking pictures in the lobby, and people constantly did so.






However, No pictures in the actual exhibit hall. Scale and actual paintbrush application imperfections are what you won't get from any photographs. What may look like vector art is painted by somebody. Murakami works factory style with "specialists" that paint each element. Tan Tan Bo Puking blew my mind. I spent a good 20 minutes in front of it bugging out like Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The sculptural stuff like the Macross style transforming girl were INSANE with detail. There was also some gorgeous animation shorts being shown near the beginning of the exhibit.

If you get a chance to see it, go!

Also got lucky at the merchandise area. Prints were in stock and I picked this one up along with Kaikai, Kiki, and the black Dokuro.



85/100? 85/700? Looks like ol' Takashi is getting fatigued printing all this money.

 

They have 9 different prints available now. 4 of Bodidharma and 5 DOB's. DOB's are $900 and Bodhis are $1250. All are numbered out of 300 and you can get 15% off if you get a membership which is only $55. I have pics of the actual show from the Brooklyn Ball when they allowed us to take photos. If anybody wants to see some shoot me an email. This show is really incredible and I recommend that ANYONE who has not seen it sees it. Puking Tan Tan Bo is one of the coolest pieces of artwork I have seen.

 

my friend worked in Murakami's "factory" for a few months & apparently it was pretty nuts. She said that the workers didn't go home most and would sleep 3 - 5 hours a day. This was 6 - 7 years ago, after he'd really blown up. I don't know if he still operates that way.

some of his stuff blows me away. This looks like a great exhibit.

 

thanks for the sharing pics. Were there any new paintings/prints on exhibit?

 

Here's a link to a slide show on the Brooklyn exhibit -

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/01/arts/10080401_MURA_SLIDESHOW_index.html

And here's Tan Tan Bo Puking, which seemed to awe everyone -



I don't recall ever seeing a print of TTB Puking, does anyone know if they exist? I am pretty sure it's an older piece, so I would have expected it to be printed back then if at all.

Of course if it was never printed back then, just imagine what the prints would bring if released tomorrow - Even his repetitive-series DOB and LV prints have jumped since the MOCA show (that DOB print is $10K after the show?!? - Wow, just a coupla months ago you could get all the assorted-color DOB prints you could carry for $1500-$1800 each), so a piece like TTB Puking ... wow.

Incidentally, a print of what is (IMHO) one of his top four iconic pieces ever*, the original Tan Tan Bo, is currently listed on eBay at a starting price of $8K, and if it's the same seller who sold the last one, he accepted a $7K Best Offer on that one. Even $7K is a pretty good price jump since these museum shows, but it might very well look like a big, fat bargain in a few years.

* - Remember that the print which recently sold for $12,500 at Philips de Pury was older, but it was 'only' a 727-727 (or maybe it was 727-272?) - In any event, it was a print which is (as I understand it) a followup, a derivation (almost a different colorway of the same image), from the original, iconic 727 piece. To my eye, his four Tiptop A-List pieces from which prints are available are (in no particular order):

1 - 727
2 - Tan Tan Bo
3&4 - The 'Francis Bacon Homage' pair

Even with the success of the MOCA and Brooklyn shows, all four of these still seem to be fairly available, though at sometimes wildly varying prices.

 

I just revisited the Murakami museum book the other day...and I had forgetten about this link. I'm might get geeked out and order something from the museum. I like dokuro skull based off the time bokan

 

I was In NYC this weekend and managed to take some time to check out this exhibit and i"m extremely glad i did. To say i was blown away would be an understatement. The giant fiberglass statue in the lobby is simply mind boggling.

 

next stop of the exhibition will be frankfurt germany later next month - cant wait to go there.
curious how much prints will be over here. sometimes they convert $ to € - 1:1
same as retail prices for original fake stuff.
2 friends who went to brooklyn saying bodhi prints selling for 250$ or 300$.
wondering whether they are mistaken or have there been any small size prints for less???
thanks for ur help!

 

I think they're mistaken, When I was there they were 1250. I've never heard of Murakami prints selling for 250-300, that seems like a price on an open edition print but I've never seen an open edition Murakami print before, but that's not saying they don't exist.

 

I just missed a small Murakami exhibition in Hong Kong. Was too fricken busy with client work. Thanks for sharing the photos