Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist, born on February 1st, 1962 in Tokyo, Japan. He is well known for his works within the fashion industry. Growing up, Murakami was a fan of Japanese anime and manga, growing his aspiration to join the animation industry. After enrolling in the Toyko University of Arts, he gained the qualifications to become an animator just as he hoped. After his graduation, Murakami’s focus shifted and he became dissatisfied with the contemporary art within Japan. He claimed it felt like, “a deep appropriation of Western trends.” Around the year 2000, Murakami established “Superflat.” This was an exhibition created to help feature works that were inspired by Japanese culture such as ukiyo-e or even anime. Murakami’s art varied in style, one of his most expensive pieces of work is a figure of a naked anime character with spikey hair.

One of my favourite works created by Murakami is his iconic happy flower illustration. This illustration is recognizable by many and I admire the bright colours and the overall joy it represents. Although the Murakami Flower debuted in 1995, it steadily became a sensation in the pop culture industry. Artists such as Kanye West featured the flower on his album cover or Jung Ho-seok (J-Hope) of BTS wore the flower to symbolize hope and happiness. Even companies such as Louis Vuitton have collaborated with Murakami. I have a strong overall appreciation for Murakami, I admire how well he can encapsulate colour in an image and utilize it to create hope and happiness for the viewers.

Sources

https://gagosian.com/artists/takashi-murakami/

https://hypebeast.com/2020/11/takashi-murakami-flowers-behind-the-hype-video

https://www.artsy.net/artist/takashi-murakami

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takashi_Murakami

Paul Klee was a Swiss artist born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland of German descent. He was known for his style which was influenced by the expressions, cubism, and surrealism movements. Klee was known as the father of abstract art with a style containing many forms from non-existent creatures to “mystical hieroglyphics.”

After Klee relocated to Munich to study various art forms, he was influenced by artists such as Van Gogh and Henri Matisse. It also speculated that abstractionist painter, Kandinsky, was an inspiration for Klee’s works. Being an artist during the early 1900s, his work, and a group of other painters, greatly influenced future generations of artists with his abstract and cubism. During the twentieth century, there had been a resurgence of interest and returns to the forefront of modern art.

Despite the massive interest in cubism and abstract, I do not find myself very interested in these movements. They are very playful figures, although, do not elicit any emotional or mental response when looking at them. Despite my dislike for the simplicity of abstract and cubism, I found myself enjoying Klee’s piece, “Hammamet with Its Mosque.” It indeed looks like a simple piece, what intrigues me is the use of colour and the messy art style.

It was very intriguing to look at the works of Paul Klee, I gained a better understanding of abstract art after researching.

Sources:

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/klee/hd_klee.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Klee#Reception_and_legacy

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-what-you-need-to-know-about-paul-klee

Over in the Netherlands, in the town of Hertogenbosch, the painter Heironymus Bosch resided. Our historical knowledge on the man is incredibly limited, we are aware he passed away in the year 1516, but there lies no record of his age. It is shown that he must’ve been active for an extended period of time, as he became an independent master in the year 1488. Bosch appeared to be well known for his use of hells and demons. His painting style turned the table on the idea of traditional paintings, creating works full of fantasy and creatures no person has seen. 

The idea of going against tradition has always been intriguing. Bosch can perfectly convey dark and evil themes solely through his imagination. The use of vibrant colours later transitioning to darker tones helped me to view the intimidating themes of hell.

Sources

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/feb/11/hieronymus-bosch-review-a-heavenly-host-of-delights-on-the-road-to-hell