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When Takashi Murakami stands in front of his dramatic, wildly expressive painting based on a stage curtain he created for a Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo, the figures tower above him as an epic tale of performance steeped in tradition. In several panels that reach 16 feet high and extend 76 feet across the vast hall of Gagosian’s gallery in Le Bourget, in the suburbs of Paris, the elaborate imagery makes an overwhelming impression, no matter one’s grasp of the story. An artwork of this size could only be destined for a major institution that has both the space and the budget.
Meanwhile, up a flight of stairs on the gallery’s mezzanine, anyone who showed up to the opening day of the artist’s latest solo exhibition could receive a Flower Jet coin, an NFT gift that only exists in the virtual realm. (Its name is a nod to the Le Bourget airport, where the world’s highest net-worth individuals travel via private jet.) Boasting a pixelated smiling flower, it was minted live with prompts to store it in a digital wallet. Created as a set of 1,000, they might (or might not!) be worth a handsome sum in the future.
One of the most famous and prolific artists working today, Murakami has spent the better part of three decades developing a highly recognizable, pop-infused visual universe—part anime, part emoji, yet not necessarily as simplistic as people think—that he’s transformed into accessible merch, from key rings and T-shirts to plush toys and skateboards. Now, having emerged from a period during the pandemic that nearly left him bankrupt, he seems out to prove that monumental and virtual art can co-exist. In some instances, they even merge.
Consider the name of this exhibition, “Understanding the New Cognitive Domain.” Murakami is not using his art to explain rapid technological advancements like artificial intelligence so much as exploring how earlier systems like video games have laid the foundation for a world that is evolving before our eyes, and testing how we might perceive an increasingly blurred reality. He’s produced a pixelated series of his cartoon-like flowers, each a dense color field of exploding blossoms. He has elevated versions of his Lucky Cat Coin Banks from their NFT origins to the blue-chip walls of Gagosian. And he’s recreated the avatars conceived for his NFT Clone X collaboration with RTFKT Studios, bringing them into the physical world as framed portraits.
Then there’s a new work with a title that runs 90 words, as though lifted from an economics textbook. Referencing a banner by Mike Kelly, it highlights those who have been pivotal to shaping currency and financial systems over time, rendering them in a computer-graphics style against a rainbow background. Quotes accompany the lineup (all men, alas), from the ancient Sumerians and Benjamin Franklin to Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin and Elon Musk. Above the depiction of John Maynard Keynes reads the line: “The biggest problem is not to let people accept new ideas, but to let them forget the old ones.”
Yet for all these back-to-the-future musings, the gallery has mounted three more panoramic paintings, including one in Murakami’s signature Superflat approach and another from 2010 that registers more classical, with its washes of indigo blue, until a closer look reveals a dynamic video game scene.
“With this show, people can really see the variations, from the newest kabuki paintings and the paintings I hand-made over 10 years, and the works inspired by the NFTs,” says Murakami, dressed in a Namesake shirt covered in blocks of graphic text such as “I am a work of art” on the front and “Storyteller” on the back. Around his neck is jeweler Ben Baller’s blinged-out necklace boasting the artist’s roster of friendly-menacing characters. If all this enhances his already charismatic presence, it turns out that Murakami is actually somewhat nervous for his day in the Paris spotlight, calling it “scary.”
The event begins with an invitation-only preview that feels more like a lively friends-and-family lunch. Among those in attendance with their kids (entertained with flower-shaped balloons) are Murakami’s longtime friend and collaborator, Pharrell Williams; Sarah Andelman, whose partnership with Pharrell on the upcoming Just Phriends digital auction includes a unique Murakami piece; gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin; and Benjamin Paulin, who debuted a new presentation of his father Pierre Paulin’s iconic furniture last week at Chateau La Coste. Usher also makes a cameo, as does fashion’s show producer par excellence, Alexandre de Betak, having recently staged an event with Murakami and RTFKT’s Benoit Pagotto in Tokyo. Later in the afternoon, the ebullient artist will welcome admirers and hype beasts in an ever-expanding line by pouring glasses of fruit water; posing for selfies in his plush octopus headwear; and sitting for a signing session.
But before all this got underway, Murakami shared some wide-ranging insights with Vogue.
Vogue: How are the physical and digital artworks complementary?
Takashi Murakami: The digital world can be for everyone; but actually, for older people to enter into the digital world, there is still a barrier. My own children, who are nine and 12, they play games and are totally online. Young people’s literacy is completely different. I am of the old-school literacy generation, but I’m using that method from the old school and appealing to a new audience with a new literacy—the new reality of this new space. So this is why I have created the NFT. On the other hand, with these big paintings and physical works, I still make them for museums and for people to come and experience in real life.
The show is called “Understanding the New Cognitive Domain,” but many people don’t understand the digital world, the metaverse. How does your art help explain it?
Le Bourget is far from Paris. I wanted to draw people from Paris with this project as this is the first time I am proposing this cognitive domain. At first, I assume people won’t understand. But if I give them a free NFT, then they will take them. And once they possess them, they will start looking more seriously at them. So in that contemplation, I hope my message will develop.
Last year, the metaverse was all everyone could talk about, but there is now the sense it was overhyped. Thoughts?
Last year, the whole notion of the metaverse exploded because it was really tied to the idea that this was going to be a new business, and everyone needed to be a part of it. It was too tied to the business aspect. But hardcore people are still very much involved and young people who can’t really act directly on society or shape politics and these kinds of things, they’re already living in the metaverse through gaming and other platforms. So maybe six years from now, when those people are adults, there will be another explosion of the metaverse because it’s their native world. And by that time, the people who are saying the metaverse is over will not be able to catch up.
Do you consider how your art, in whatever form, will appreciate in value?
I think the destiny of artworks cannot be determined the moment they are created. Their values are not set. That’s my belief and it’s something I really think about as I try to create new work. I think after the artist dies is when the true value of the artwork is questioned. When I was a student, the collaboration of Warhol and Basquiat was big news. And at the time, Warhol looked so old and like he was trying to suck the young blood, and I thought it was embarrassing. But that was back then and today, no one cares. The work itself was re-evaluated with context and history. All this shifts.
From the merch to the major paintings, it seems that anyone can be a collector of Murakami.
From my own experience in high school and when I was young, there were films that I would really love, and I would buy the books about them or the records of the soundtrack. And it was very satisfying to own them. Then when I became much older, I might have bought original drawings that came out at auction, which would be much more expensive, and I would be very happy owning them. When you’re young and you don’t have money, these things help you understand what you love. When you’re older, you want to reaffirm this love, that you were moved by it, so you then pay even more money. Buying key chains and plush dolls of my work might seem different, but I have people come up to me who are now buying my work, saying that it started with a T-shirt or the merchandise. People just keep collecting. In any case, I think it’s really important to have those layers because I hear from all different people about how they view my work, and this fuels the way I work going forward.
How do you think about your fame?
I didn’t used to like this, but now I have come to terms with it, and I accept it. I am actually becoming the old guy character. I’m the character that has lived a long life and has a lot of experience. So maybe I’m famous but I’m a famous old guy. It’s actually easier for me. I can say anything, and people will say, “Oh, it’s just the old guy!” [Laughs.] That’s the character I am going for.
Yeah, but you’re only 61. Alex Katz is 95, David Hockney and Georg Baselitz are 85. You could be the old guy for a long time yet.
Yeah, but if Baselitz says the future is bad, no one from the young generation is listening.
Are we reaching a moment when artificial intelligence will create your art better than you can?
Oh, I’m not worried because this is true. I am already using ChatGPT and Midjourney and different software and mixing it with my studio. These can be great things. We offer it to the assistants and if I have 15 assistants, then I can choose the solutions. The main point is that AI is a prompt. If the input isn’t good, it will not give you something back.
Is there anything you haven’t done?
My dad had Alzheimer’s. The model case in art is Willem de Kooning. When his Alzheimer’s began, for me his paintings became much better. The feeling was so free. So if I arrive at a moment when I forget everything but I can keep painting, maybe this is when I will feel the most free.
You don’t feel entirely free?
No. I’m still thinking about wanting to escape from the bankruptcy, thinking about money conditions all the time. That’s not free.
Do you think the pandemic changed how you work?
I think so. If the pandemic never came, I wouldn’t be thinking about the digital world. Communications changed and mentalities changed. And people recognized death, and this was a big point. People understood death because they were closer to it. But I think that’s also why art has become more popular now and it is better than the past.
The eyes are always revealing in your work; they are many colors and slightly crazy, the gaze in different directions. Why is this?
Yes, the eyes are never straight; this is an idea that came from kabuki. Kabuki is performed in a theater, on a stage, so many people are watching [the performer]. If his eyes are just in one direction, it will seem like he’s not focusing. But if the eyeballs are in different directions, it’s like, Hey, he’s watching me. It’s the same effect in the painting. It’s the same idea as the Mona Lisa. This is my technique. It’s the first time I’ve been asked that question.
Well, you have very expressive eyes, but you often close them while speaking.
Because visually, there is too much information in my brain. That’s why I shut them.
Do you see visions, of all the colors from your paintings, when you close your eyes?
No. [Laughs.] Just gray!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. “Takashi Murakami: Understanding the New Cognitive Domain” runs until December 22, 2023 at Gagosian, Le Bourget.