Creator: Takashi Murakami
Title: wink
Work Type: Paintings
Date: 2001
Location: Exhibited at Marianne Boesky Gallery, Spring 2001
Material: Acrylic and on canvas mounted on board
Measurements: 160 cm x 160 cm
Image URL: https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/LARRY_QUALLS_1039625237
Murakami’s wink features a large variety of psychedelic mushrooms, anthropomorphized by the eyes that cover their caps. The bright colors of the mushrooms, combined with their wide, rounded eyes and their sheer variety reflect the marketability, appeal, and soft power of Japanese popular culture; however, the piece also evokes a sense of unease and confusion. Although the vastly different scales of the mushrooms imply a sense of distance from or closeness to the viewer, all of the mushrooms are on the same, two-dimensional plan, in addition to being illustrated in a tightly packed line. The very nature of mushrooms as a potentially psychedelic object adds to this confusion, and the eyes turn the mushrooms into unnatural beings, with no real basis in reality. Although most of the eyes look in all different directions, making it impossible to tell where they are looking, two lidded eyes on the largest mushroom appear to gaze directly at the viewer. This, perhaps, gives a slightly sexual nature to the artwork (also implied by the title); this fits into the ‘otaku’ stereotype and the perception of Japanese pop culture as ‘queer’ in Western eyes.
Hana Tanabe – htanabe@conncoll.edu
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