Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Art
Takashi Murakami Is Tired, Possibly Dying, Definitely Exaggerating
Posted
by Benjamin Sutton on
Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 1:46 PM
The Japanese Pop artist
Takashi Murakami (pictured), purveyor of fancy
Pharrell co-designed
sculptures, Kanye
album covers and
music videos, and
Louis Vuitton products of
various sorts, claims that the life of an art star is killing him. In a fascinating
London Times profile, 47 year-old Murakami — who opened a show at
Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris today and will be in New York on Thursday to open a show at
Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea — explains how he sleeps in two or three hour chunks, and claims that the current pace of the art market is killing him:
"I want to keep on creating but my fear is, how long can I continue? I’ve survived for ten years, but I’m not sure I can survive the next ten years. My generation is the geek generation and many are dead before the age of 50 through addictions [alcohol, overwork]. I feel like an old man. My inspiration is shrinking, my concentration is not good. I am tired."
It's an interesting piece on an artist whose work is often, unjustly, misconstrued as puerile commercialism, and how the art market can both fuel and sap the same creator's creative energy.
Tags: Takashi Murakami, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Louis Vuitton, fashion, Pop art, art market, Gagosian Gallery, art stars
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