Takashi Murukami ( the Japanese Andy Warhol) and his 500 Arhats

During our stay here in Japan we keep stumbling on the 500 Arhats... literally. We have stumbled on 500 Arhats carved out of stone:

 as well as carved out of wood:

As we see examples of these statues carved by a single monk as a statement of faith in various temples throughout our travels we have been more and more fascinated by this tradition. Each Arhat is highly individual with a whole range of expressions from humour, to reverence to mischief. Many of these 500 Arhats collections have been carved by one monk over a period of many many years as a spiritual quest. If you click here you can read more about this practice. 

Enter Takashi Murukami known as the Japanese answer to Andy Warhol: 

and his amazing 500 Arhat exhibit at the Mori museum (on the 53rd floor of Roppongi Tower just to add to the excitement!) Click here to see the Japan Times article on this. 

Once again, being complete ignorant of so much in Japan, we were blown away by Murukami`s work. This is a modern Japanese artist who has totally integrated the ancient Japanese beliefs and ezthtics and given them an entirley new face to share with the world. The exhibit starts with a series of his paintings that he created in response to a ancient classical literary treasures. In the Edo period this was a game that had on Samurai read a poem while the competitor would respond visually with calligraphy or art. In the same way Murukami responded with a whole series of incredibly creative responses. 

From this start he went on to create the largest painting in the world with his 500 Arhats as an artist` response to the devastation caused by the tsunami and earthquake in Fukushima. Re-creating the Renaissance concept of an art studio he hired several hundred bright young artists to help him complete his project. Like the wooden Arhats, EACH Arhat was researched, given a diffeent personality and given appropriate symbolism. After 2 years of intense work he and his team created a brilliant blend of ancient Buddhist come Dr. Zeus imaginary that is breath-taking. These photographs are meant to convey not only the broad power of this huge painting but also the details of each individual Arhat.

Enjoy!

 

The exhibit also included some of his other very striking and powerful imagery that he has developed over his career.

And then, of course, we needed to sit outside for awhile and debrief sitting on this beautiful public art:

And to really digest the experience at a cool French creperie discovered at random in a back alley:

Ah yes... another AMAZING day in Tokyo!