Takashi Murakami does things in a big way.
For an exhibition in Doha, Qatar, he designed a Gulliver-sized inflatable replica of himself, its giant, calloused hand extended to greet entering museumgoers.
"Children, adults, families — I want to bring everyone into my world," Mr. Murakami says.
For the last 24 years, he has strived for that. The 50-year-old artist and entrepreneur draws freely from Japanese pop culture to create work that is both critically and commercially successful. His handbag designs for Louis Vuitton resulted in a now-ubiquitous best-seller. For Kanye West's 2007 album "Graduation," he designed an anime-inspired cover. His work has shown at Los Angeles's Museum of Contemporary Art, France's Chateau de Versailles and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
His Doha show, "Murakami-Ego," revisits many of his best-known themes, including otaku, or geek, culture, and his own "Superflat" aesthetic that merges high and low culture. Kaikai and Kiki, two cartoonish, grinning characters that are well-known to Murakami fans, make an appearance, but one highlight is new: a 100-meter panel with Buddhist monks, drawn in the traditional nihonga style Mr. Murakami was trained in.
"Murakami-Ego" also critiques Japan's response to last year's nuclear crisis and what Mr. Murakami considers the country's sour mood. "Right now, Japanese people are very low," he says.
2012年4月17日星期二
2012年3月19日星期一
Indian icon succumbs to charms of Louis Vuitton
For generations it has been an Indian icon, the place where the country's left-leaning, intellectual elite get their village-made homespun clothes and, more recently, their organic mango chutney and ethnic-design furnishings.
But fans of Fabindia, though much too mild-mannered to be outraged, have been really quite concerned to discover that the internationally known ethical retailer with an annual turnover of 65m is now part-owned by a private investment firm sponsored by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), the luxury goods giant that includes brands such as Dior, Donna Karan, Thomas Pink, Bulgari and the eponymous bags.
"My friends have been sending me a Fabindia kurta (a traditional long-tailed shirt) on my birthday for decades," said Sadanand Menon, a well-known artist, choreographer and cultural commentator. "What are they going to send me now? I hope it's not a matching luggage set."
The association prompted questions from Tehelka, a campaigning magazine, which asked: "What will lefty intellectuals now wear to smart parties?" and from shoppers outside the Fabindia branch in Delhi's exclusive Khan Market.
"I suppose Louis Vuitton is all about craftsmanship and so on, but it's a big jump from some socialite's handbag or some fancy wine to dhurris [traditional rugs] from Rajasthan, isn't it?," said Pooja Chandra, 31.
A spokesman for Fabindia repeatedly stressed that the purchase of an 8% stake by L Capital Asia, a fund opened last year by LVMH to invest more than 400m in so-called aspirational brands, positioned between the luxury and the mass market on the continent, would not alter the company's outlook, products or working practices.
"Fabindia is going to stay Fabindia," said Prableen Sabhaney. "It is one of India's iconic brands and we are not going to change. But Fabindia is also a very successful mainstream business and this is our way of raising capital."
Established in 1960 by an American who had come to India on a Ford Foundation grant to advise the government on creating a market for handloom fabrics produced by artisans in remote rural areas, Fabindia originally focused on export. One big customer was Terence Conran's Habitat; Fabindia ended up supplying rugs and textiles to western living rooms for nearly three decades.
Unlike more conventional suppliers, John Bissell pioneered the idea of "fair trade", paying local communities much more than most retailers and allowing artisans and craftspeople to participate actively as suppliers and shareholders.
Crucially, too, Bissell adapted traditional designs to western tastes.
"He added colour, changed designs. It made a huge difference," said Radhika Singh, author of The Fabric of Our Lives, a book about the company.
A shop in Delhi was opened in 1976, but real expansion came following liberal economic reforms in India in the early 1990s, which not only boosted the purchasing power of the urban middle class, but simultaneously created a desire for "authentic" rural Indian products in a rapidly changing society.
"Fabindia took [clothing] which had once been associated with Gandhi and village life and converted it into a symbol not just of the poor, but of chic, too. It became very popular," said Menon, the artist.
Over the last decade, said Singh, the author, a new strategy has aimed to turn Fabindia into a global brand satisfying "different kinds of clients and consumers", with new stores opening in the Middle East and Europe. There are now 148 shops in 63 cities in India and eight overseas, with more due to open soon.
But fans of Fabindia, though much too mild-mannered to be outraged, have been really quite concerned to discover that the internationally known ethical retailer with an annual turnover of 65m is now part-owned by a private investment firm sponsored by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), the luxury goods giant that includes brands such as Dior, Donna Karan, Thomas Pink, Bulgari and the eponymous bags.
"My friends have been sending me a Fabindia kurta (a traditional long-tailed shirt) on my birthday for decades," said Sadanand Menon, a well-known artist, choreographer and cultural commentator. "What are they going to send me now? I hope it's not a matching luggage set."
The association prompted questions from Tehelka, a campaigning magazine, which asked: "What will lefty intellectuals now wear to smart parties?" and from shoppers outside the Fabindia branch in Delhi's exclusive Khan Market.
"I suppose Louis Vuitton is all about craftsmanship and so on, but it's a big jump from some socialite's handbag or some fancy wine to dhurris [traditional rugs] from Rajasthan, isn't it?," said Pooja Chandra, 31.
A spokesman for Fabindia repeatedly stressed that the purchase of an 8% stake by L Capital Asia, a fund opened last year by LVMH to invest more than 400m in so-called aspirational brands, positioned between the luxury and the mass market on the continent, would not alter the company's outlook, products or working practices.
"Fabindia is going to stay Fabindia," said Prableen Sabhaney. "It is one of India's iconic brands and we are not going to change. But Fabindia is also a very successful mainstream business and this is our way of raising capital."
Established in 1960 by an American who had come to India on a Ford Foundation grant to advise the government on creating a market for handloom fabrics produced by artisans in remote rural areas, Fabindia originally focused on export. One big customer was Terence Conran's Habitat; Fabindia ended up supplying rugs and textiles to western living rooms for nearly three decades.
Unlike more conventional suppliers, John Bissell pioneered the idea of "fair trade", paying local communities much more than most retailers and allowing artisans and craftspeople to participate actively as suppliers and shareholders.
Crucially, too, Bissell adapted traditional designs to western tastes.
"He added colour, changed designs. It made a huge difference," said Radhika Singh, author of The Fabric of Our Lives, a book about the company.
A shop in Delhi was opened in 1976, but real expansion came following liberal economic reforms in India in the early 1990s, which not only boosted the purchasing power of the urban middle class, but simultaneously created a desire for "authentic" rural Indian products in a rapidly changing society.
"Fabindia took [clothing] which had once been associated with Gandhi and village life and converted it into a symbol not just of the poor, but of chic, too. It became very popular," said Menon, the artist.
Over the last decade, said Singh, the author, a new strategy has aimed to turn Fabindia into a global brand satisfying "different kinds of clients and consumers", with new stores opening in the Middle East and Europe. There are now 148 shops in 63 cities in India and eight overseas, with more due to open soon.
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