i had many things to do before i left paris, an unfortunately large percentage of which weren’t squeezed in. fortunately for me, i made time to see galerie perrotin’s exhibition of takashi murakami’s work. i’ve long been a fan of murakami’s, so when a friend found an ad in the local paper advertising an homage to yves klein (another favorite artist of mine) by murakami, there was no doubt in my mind that i had to go. although the exhibition was fantastic, i couldn’t have planned for what i actually saw.
the galerie perrotin is tucked away at the end of an alley sprouting off a side street in the marais, on the impasse saint claude (which none of my maps seemed to recognize existed). inside, the gallery itself is quite beautiful - clean white walls lit by white tube lights running alongside gorgeous skylights. the gallery is intimate, and leaves little between the visitor and the artwork.
immediately after entering the gallery, one’s gaze is drawn to the end of the first room by a triptych by none other than klein himself. i was completely floored. i expected all the works to be of murakami’s creation, but the fact that one could see murakami’s modern re-interpretations and klein’s original masterpieces in the same room was just otherworldly.
instead of settling for one triptych, galerie perrotin showed two additional triptychs and a single canvas, all speaking to different stages in klein’s artistic development. yes, a flat canvas covered in raw pigment could be boring (especially considering the same pigments were used time and time again), but each canvas possessed a different texture, provoking different reactions in every visitor (my friend and i actually had a long discussion on this topic in the gallery). although many of klein’s works aren’t sculptural by definition, there’s a distinctly tactile aspect to them, something oddly 3-d in 2-d. (as a side note, the gold canvas pictured reminded me of the watch the throne cover - perhaps tisci found inspiration here?)
but the kleins really speak for themselves - i came for the murakami, didn’t i? i’d seen murakami’s work in person many times, but these pieces really interested me because they were a departure from his normal work. instead of the typically poppy, high-energy, manga-inspired works i’d previously seen, these pieces definitely showed a different side to takashi’s work. they were pensive and more ambiguous, although consistent in production and content (the skulls and, especially, flowers are often seen in his other works). clearly, murakami succeeded in paying tribute to klein’s best known works.
unfortunately the show closed soon after, but the pictures on galerie perrotin’s website are far better than mine, and communicate some of the feeling of the exhibit. i left you all with a picture of myself and my favorite triptych, highlighting the contrast between the colorful pigments and my… colorful wardrobe.
(Source: benjaminfainlight.com)
