WHAT? Japanese Art History a la Takashi Murakami 

WHERE? Gagosian, 20 Grosvenor Hill, London W1K 3QD

WHEN? Now until 8th March. Free to view 

WHY GO?  For pop art, Japanese style.  Just as Kusama is famed for her dotty artworks, contemporary Japanese artist Murakami is a force to be reckoned with for his 'cartoon' imagery.  

Exuberant in every way, this flamboyant artist translates traditional Japanese art into modern Western idioms in more ways than one. 

He has been dubbed the Japanese ‘pop’ artist having designed covers for hip hop albums, graphics for Louis Vuitton and even collaborated with Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton for the Japanese Grand Prix.

This phenomenal exhibition of his work, the first staged in the UK for fifteen years, transforms the huge Gagosian gallery with eye popping imagery.

Murakami's take on Japanese folklore packs a punch as he merges mythical historical elements like tigers and dragons with his signature logos of boggling eyes and smiley flower faces.

It’s a modern mashup of pop, animé and graphics and even blends in AI-generated images from fragments of earlier works.

It’s no wonder this prolific artist has over 142K instagram followers, there’s always something new to smile about as he keeps on creating and promoting his ‘brand’ image. 

Check the gallery’s online installation video if you can’t make the actual show.

IN THE KNOW  Want a fast Murakami fix?  Concurrently the Gagosian Burlington Arcade gallery is showing four new paintings of his famous smiling flowers along with prints, souvenirs and T-shirts  plus a limited number of a new catalogue documenting his celebrated 2022 New York exhibition.