Takashi Murakami

Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris

Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Paris, Fondation Cartier; London, Serpentine Gallery, Takashi Murakami, 2001-02

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the light pink is slightly richer in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals a few tiny specks of paint loss to some of the tips of the eyelashes and a further small number to the jagged edges on the blue element and to the green top. Very close inspection of the green element reveals a couple of scattered irregularities to the surface. There is superficial dirt on the white base. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Looking in all directions with its multiple, vividly coloured eyes, Peaked Cap’s character - one of the fascinating products of Takashi Murakami’s fertile imagination - embodies the artist’s trademark combination of high and low Japanese visual culture. Executed in 2002, only two years after the artist had summarised his revolutionary artistic vision with the theories of the “Superflat”, Peaked Cap’s character is a variation of one of Murakami’s favourite motifs, the mushroom, which he has represented in numerous occasions. First created as an ‘accessory’ to Murakami’s most important character and alter-ego, Mr. DOB, mushrooms gradually became more and more important in his oeuvre, finally evolving into individual personages with distinct names and personalities such as Peaked Cap.

Murakami was inspired to create his mushrooms in a fortuitous way; while visiting a museum devoted to the art of the Japanese painter Yumeji Takehisa, who is renowned in Japan for his depictions of beautiful women, the artist was fascinated by a number of hand towels Takehisa had designed in the early Twentieth Century following Western taste. In an essay about his art Murakami recalls: “His hand towels were lined up in the museum showcase, with designs like fireworks, and mushrooms in between floral designs. It inspired me. Suddenly, I somehow knew beyond reason that what I had to make was a mushroom as a female character item, a mushroom. I started drawing mushrooms…Before I knew it, I had made about 500 different designs” (Takashi Murakami, ‘Life as a Creater’ in: Exhibition Catalogue, Tokyo, Museum of Contemporary Art, Takashi Murakami: Summon Monsters? Open the Door? Heal? Or Die?, 2001, pp. 135-36).

Common to Murakami’s practice, Peaked Cap incorporates references to several moments in art history. Having studied the techniques of 'nihon-ga' (or Japanese traditional painting) at university, the artist deftly integrates the exquisite treatment of image and surface that characterises the works of the artists from the Edo and Momoyama periods into his designs, whilst infusing them with contemporary quotations taken from the Japanese subcultures of manga and ‘otaku’ (Japanese for geek): Mushroom-shaped male genitalia populate Katsushika Hokusai’s ‘Shunga’ (the name given to Japanese erotic art) prints of the Nineteenth Century, whilst in Post-War Japan the mushroom is a reference to the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and has been used in science fiction anime such as the cult series Space Battleship Yamato from 1974.

As with most of Murakami’s mushrooms, Peaked Cap is covered with multiple eyes that look at the viewer from all angles. For the artist, eyes have autobiographical connotations; as a child he used to admire the work of the Japanese manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, in particular a character named ‘Hyakume’ (meaning Hundred Eyes) that was covered in eyes.  Murakami used to have a toy figurine of this character that his father had given him as a present, and later recalled this childhood memory in his work. Eyes, too, eventually became an important and independent motif in the artist’s oeuvre, and were chosen for the cover of his ‘artist book/manifesto’ Superflat in the year 2000. In his cute and friendly appearance, Peaked Cap thus stands as a fantastic three dimensional example of Murakami’s creations, a brilliant fusion of the traditional and the contemporary enriched further with some of the artist’s most beloved memories.