Well, by now everyone has heard of or seen Murakami at the Brooklyn Museum. Takashi Murakami is famous for amongst other things, his work with Louis Vuitton handbags and in this exhibit he features a lot of his anime work, commercial advertising work and his artworks. His exhibit opened on April 5 and is going till July 13.
One of the parts of the exhibit that stands out the most though is the Louis Vuitton boutique that is set up in the center to sell limited edition Murakami handbags. I had a mixed reaction to it. Where as I am a big fan of Japanese anime and love the work he does with it, I still questioned how I felt about boutique that was set up right in the center of the exhibit. To me having a commercial operation, that from what I can gather having spoken to museum staff afterwards, takes all the profits, in a non-profit setting is practically taking advantage of the institution. If I knew that part or all of the profits were going to the Brooklyn Museum I would feel differently but there wasn’t anything at the show to indicate that.
With that said, the show itself is worth seeing. Some of the works are absolutely beautiful and the sculptures are very impressive. The fact that the LV boutique was there posed interesting questions and challenged our traditional way of creating that divide between the non-profit and the for-profit models. Maybe that is the point…
One Comment on "Worth Checking Out: Murakami at Brooklyn Museum"
I would strongly agree with you about the LV shop sitting there in the middle of the Murakami exhibit but the whole show was such a goof and seemed to actually question the art/commerce relationship. I think it was an important part of the show. Those hipper than though salespeople in their white suits were a riot.