Tokyo Perspective: Chronicle of a Death Foretold regarding a respected American Art Dealer 奈良美智や村上隆を巡って：「FUCK YOU」や「お前、授乳中なんだから、俺のビジネスパートナーにはなれない」

This time I really don’t feel like writing about a gallery. It makes me uncomfortable because the overall perspective is lost if you only focus on critical points.
Today, my dear ART+CULTURE readers will excuse me for putting off my velvet gloves to take a closer look at a respected art dealer.
Besides, I would like to admit, during this long period between January 21st and August 28th, writing about an art dealer is depressing. It hurts, and I shed a tear. But I, as a Japanese artist veteran, must not withhold this text from the public and future Japanese art historians.

The art dealer in question is Tim Blum, Los Angeles, whose gallery has now been renamed from Blum & Poe to BLUM.
Why have I taken off my kid gloves? Because Tim Blum has usurped MISHIMA Yukio 三島由紀夫.

The exhibition title in January 2024 “THIRTY YEARS: WRITTEN WITH A SPLASH OF BLOOD” provokes media attention and reaction.

Quote from the interview with Tim Blum in Los Angeles (Ocula, 10 January 2024):

Journalist’s question:
“BLUM’s anniversary exhibition is a survey of Japanese art from the 1960s to today. How does the title, taken from Yukio Mishima’s 1969 novel “Runaway Horses”（奔馬）, relate to the show?

Answer by Tim Blum:
I was pondering my relationship to Japan, which is far from exclusive to art—it’s also literature, music, film, architecture, and design. Mishima has always been an important figure for me—early on in my life, his writing inspired an interest in Japan, an interest that resulted in my move there. The quote feels apropos to this transformative juncture for me and the gallery: ‘Perfect purity is possible if you turn your life into a line of poetry written with a splash of blood.’ The reference to Mishima is critical, and further interpretation of the line I will leave open.”
https://ocula.com/magazine/art-news/tim-blum-reflects-on-30-years-in-the-art-business/

MISHIMA Yukio, the big liar, the worst, uptight sociopath Japan has ever produced.
Now watch out, as these words are NOT my words, they are coming out from the gay community in Tokyo, Shinjuku’s 2-chome: Mishima is being named “a monkey, with short legs and small cock”. To make it clear, NOT my words, they are from the Japanese Queer community.
Ultra right wing, fascist MISHIMA Yukio, a chauvinist idiot, a coward for not coming out as a homosexual, who mocked women and played the ridiculous, laughable Japanese showman.
Mishima IS a joke. Compare Mishima with James Baldwin, check:
三島由紀夫のホモエロティシズム写真作品 © 細江英公
MISHIMA Yukio’s homoerotic photoworks © Eikoh Hosoe
https://art-culture.world/articles/mishima-yukio-homoerotic-photoworks-eikoh-hosoe/

The fact that Patti Smith, who made American art history with Robert Mapplethorpe,
actually shows interest in MISHIMA Yukio is also food for thought. WTF.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1mxhaLuGUJ/

Japanese speaking Blum, responsible for the career of the Japanese art workers NARA Yoshitomo 奈良美智, who calls everyone who criticises him motherfucker ウンコ野郎 + FUCK YOU,…

For fuck’s sake, Jeez! Not 5, neither 10… a whole bunch of 30 “Fuck” art pieces by Yoshitomo!
That’s fucking insane! Our extremely busy art worker really LOVES to use the word “fuck ya!” as artistic masturbation practice. 🤣

https://art-culture.world/articles/nara-yoshitomo-sbi-auction-fuck-you-work/

…and pathetic MURAKAMI Takashi 村上隆, who shouts, rages childishly loud for attention, always puking in his paintings, complaining constantly about his self-inflicted miseries.

展覧会の運営コスト捻出で、日本の美術館は常に頭を抱えていますが、今回、これ、発明して（、、、と、言っても、ホリエモンチャンネル見て、なるほど！とアイデア頂いたのですが！）兎に角金ない金ない、だからひもじい展覧会しか出来ない、仕方がないですから！からの脱出の一助になって欲しい！です。芸術好きの皆様！どうかトライしてみてください！
ヨロシクお願い致します！
Japanese art museums are always struggling with raising the cost of running exhibitions, but this time, I invented this (…) But I saw the Horiemon channel and got the idea. (But!) I don’t have any money, so I can’t do anything other than a small exhibition, so I have no choice! I want you to help me escape! is. Art lovers! Please give it a try!
Thank you for your support!

Twitter 2011/11/12 takashipom takashi murakami

サブカルは嫌いだ。体制を捏造しては批判して、己では何もやらない。反原発を訴える人にも多い気がするよ。何も変わらない。変えられない。

未だに現代美術、高い。格差社会、云々、っていうロジック、進歩無いぜ。日本に住み暮らす以上、アメリカの庇護の元、偽資本主義を謳歌して、そのゆとりの上に何もかも成立しているのに。想像を超えた額面だからって、ビックリするのはいいけど、批判されてもね。

I hate subculture. They fabricate and criticize the system, but do nothing themselves. I feel like there are a lot of people who are anti-nuclear. Nothing changes. I can’t change it.

Contemporary art is still expensive. There is no progress in the logic of a unequal society. Living in Japan, under the protection of the United States, we enjoy a pseudo-capitalist system, and everything is built on that leeway. It’s okay to be surprised because the value is beyond your imagination, but it’s okay to be criticized.

三潴末雄@mizumaart フォローする
批評家不在、投資家不在、世界に誇れるビエンナーレも美術舘も画廊も、アートインダストリーの思想もないないづくし、リスクを取って活動している日本人のアート関係者なんてほんの一握り。コレクターも少ない。日本のオークションハウスなんて手数料稼ぎで、志不在。でも日本が好き、日本の作家が好き
返信 リツイート いいね 2010.10.11 12:58

There are no critics, no investors, no world-class biennales, no art museums, no art galleries, no idea of ​​an art industry, and there are only a handful of Japanese art people who are taking risks. There are also few collectors. Auction houses in Japan earn commissions and lack ambition. But I like Japan and I like Japanese artists.

takashi murakami@takashipom フォローする
俺嫌い。そんな日本の業界、なのです。三瀦さんは優しいし、反目する人物ではないのですが、甘やかされて『当然』と思ってる阿呆も湧いて来てるのでその辺に苦言をばらまいとる訳です。 RT @mizumaart: でも日本が好き、日本の作家が好き
返信 リツイート いいね 2010.10.11 13:03
I hate it. Such is the Japanese industry. Mizuma-san is kind and not the type of person to antagonize, but there is also a spoiled idiot who thinks it’s “natural”, so that’s why I’m complaining about it.

takashi murakami @takashipom

もう一度言います。日本の現代美術業界に投資しない方がいいですよ。無意味ですから。利殖も出来ないし、コンセプトを共有も出来ない。値付けにも根拠が希薄。、、、え？僕？わしら？ええ、ええ。この話聞いて嫌になったら投資しない方がいい。しかし、わしらは問題点を見据えて手を打ってる。
2010-10-11 11:23:29
I’ll say it again. It is better not to invest in the Japanese contemporary art industry. It’s meaningless. You can’t profit from it, and you can’t share the concept. The basis for pricing is also weak. ,,, what? Me? Us? yeah yeah. If you don’t like it after hearing this story, it’s better not to invest. However, we are looking at the problems and taking measures.

takashi murakami @takashipom

流通の改革。価格の見直し。価値観の設定基準の構築。その辺を基礎工事からやり直す。GEISAI１０年やってきて、開墾事業は半分出来た。まだまだ、やるこたぁ、尽きません。
2010-10-11 11:26:19
Distribution reform. Review of prices. Building standards for setting values. The area will be redone from the basic construction. After 10 years of GEISAI, the land reclamation project is half completed. There is still so much to do.

takashi murakami @takashipom

ブームを一発立ち上げて、デヴューしたもん勝ち、と言い放ったバカな若者集団の１人とか、是非是非、その論理で生き抜いてくれと思いますよ。ええ。お前だよ！
If you’re one of those stupid young people who declared that the one who started a boom and debuted will win, I hope you survive by following that logic. Yeah. It’s you!

takashi murakami @takashipom
芸術の売れるか否かは信用しかないのです。
2010-10-11 11:35:49
Whether art sells or not depends only on trust.

上海リンダ/Shanghai Linda @tenquito
突然の質問ですみません。
村上さんが思う日本画の醍醐味ってどういうところでしょうか？
Sorry for the sudden question.
What do you think is the best part of Japanese painting, Murakami?
RT @takashipom 彼は今、どこにいるんだろうか？このツィッターでもみて、反撃して欲しいもんだよ！
where is he now? I want you to take a look at this tweet and fight back!
2010-10-11 11:36:15

takashi murakami @takashipom
@R_zwillings @westmtt 誰でもいいの。本人は分かるはずです。
Anyone is fine. The person himself should know.
2010-10-11 11:36:41

takashi murakami @takashipom
無い。日本画はもう死んでいる。 RT @tenquito: 突然の質問ですみません。
村上さんが思う日本画の醍醐味ってどういうところでしょうか？
None. Japanese painting (NIHON-GA) is already dead. RT @tenquito: Sorry for the sudden question.
What do you think is the best part of Japanese painting, Murakami?
RT @takashipom 彼は今、どこにいるんだろうか？このツィッターでもみて、反撃して欲しいもんだよ！

takashi murakami @takashipom
よくさ、ブラック企業がどうちゃらとか、したり顔で書いてる奴ら、おまえらきちんと働いてんのかよ、とか思うぜ。なにがブラックなんだよ。無責任、自分だけが有利に金もらいたい。楽したい。嫌なこと言われたくない。じゃあ、社会的な現場で仕事するな。
Link_https://twitter.com/takashipom/status/224740351947194371

2014/10/31 Facebook

僕が３６歳だった頃。
小山登美夫ギャラリーで『マイ・ロンサム・カウボーイ』を展示していた時。
その作品は、まったくもって、売れませんでした。
２００万円、位だったかなぁ～。幾らだったか。
とにかく、制作費の原価割れしそうで、売れてもなぁ～って、思ってた。
でも売れなかったんですよ。
で、その後、ニューヨークやロサンゼルスで売れた。
『マイ・ロンサム・カウボーイ』を展示した展覧会はアートフォーラムの企画＜私の今年のベスト１０展覧会＞で、後に『©MURAKAMI』を企画してくれた、ポールシンメル氏によって選ばれた。
巨乳の作品、『HIROPON』の対で造って。
『HIROPON』も『マイ・ロンサム・カウボーイ』が登場するまで、発表してから２年が経っていたが、１体しか売れていなかった。
つまり、全くのノーリアクションだったけれども、一部のギャラリストが信じて繰り返し、プレゼンテーションしてくれたおかげで何度か欧米のアートシーンに展示され続けた。
で、その作品、、、。。。１０年経たずに１６億円。
あの悪名高き事件。
サザビーズのオークションにおける価格の高騰。
悪名の論点
日本の恥部を晒すな！
オタクを海外の人間に勘違いさせるな！
オタクを搾取するな！
そして
そんな値段の意味あるわけ無いだろう！
が日本での批判のポイント。
細野不二彦の『ギャラリーフェイク』で僕の事をテーマにした回が村上批判のオタクたちの喝采の元に公表される。
だが、批判の根本には、アート業界への不信、もあるはず。
まぁ、『ギャラリーフェイク』の存在そのものが贋作を扱うヒーローですからね。その不信をベースにお話は進んでゆくわけで。。。
アートは金持ちの欲の象徴。
金は悪。
戦後の日本の根源的な意識構造です。
芸術とはなにか？
金
欲
資本主義
それは人の世の中を映し出すリアルである。
日本の戦後の欺瞞の構造を活写し続け批判を受ける村上隆。
それを批判するマンガが賞賛を受けるこの時代は、その意味でも、日本美術史に刻印されるであろうし、遠い未来、細野不二彦 VS 村上隆の論点の移動にも、興味深いモノになってゆくであろうと思います。
今は、９割、細野不二彦さんが世論的には完全に有利、ですのでね。
それが、そのままなのか、否か。
時が立つのを待つしか無いです。

English translation:
When I was 36 years old.
I was exhibiting “My Lonesome Cowboy” at the Tomio Koyama Gallery.
 The work did not sell at all.
 It was about 2 million yen, I think. I don’t know how much it was.
Anyway, I thought it was going to be below the cost of production, so I thought, “it would be good (let’s hope) if it’s sells…”
. But it didn’t sell.
Then it sold in New York and Los Angeles.
 The exhibition in which “My Lonesome Cowboy” was shown was selected by Paul Schimmel, who later organized “©MURAKAMI,” as one of Art Forum’s “My Top 10 Exhibitions of the Year.
The work of Big Tits, made as a counterpart to “HIROPON”.
It had been two years since “HIROPON” was released, and only one had been sold before “My Lonesome Cowboy” appeared.
In other words, there was absolutely no reaction at all, but thanks to some gallerists who believed in it and repeatedly presented it, it continued to be exhibited in the Western art scene several times.
And that work,…….. In less than 10 years, it was worth 1.6 billion yen.
That infamous incident.
Price gouging at Sotheby’s auctions.
The infamous argument
Don’t expose the shame of Japan!
 Don’t mistake OTAKU for people from other countries! 
Don’t exploit OTAKU!
And how can such prices mean anything?
is the point of criticism in Japan.
A piece about me in Fujihiko Hosono’s “Gallery Fake” was published to the applause of the otaku who criticized Murakami.
However, the root of the criticism must be a distrust of the art industry.
Well, the very existence of “Gallery Fake” is a hero who deals in forgeries. The story progresses based on this distrust.
Art is a symbol of the greed of the rich. 
Money is evil.
This is the fundamental structure of consciousness in postwar Japan.
What is art?
Money, greed, capitalism.
It is the real reflection of people’s world.
Takashi Murakami continues to vividly depict the structure of Japan’s postwar deception and is subject to criticism.
In that sense, this period in which a manga that criticizes it is praised will be stamped in the history of Japanese art, and in the distant future, it will become an interesting point of contention in the debate between Fujihiko Hosono and Takashi Murakami.
Right now, 90% of the public opinion is in favor of Fujihiko Hosono.
 Whether or not that will remain the case remains to be seen.
We will have to wait and see.

But despite the present state of things, I hate the current Japanese art scene. I see no progress in young artist’s works. The negative attitude held by many toward the wider contemporary art world, born of ignorance, that I observed when I was a student is still prevalent. I feel irate at the low level of understanding and that there are few works being made that are capable of competing on the world stage. How are we ever to cultivate artists who can create strong works? Like sports, science or like a devotee of Zen training alone in the mountains, we need discipline. We must become aware of our faults, learn temperance, and know our place within society. Despite this, the Japanese art scene is composed of lenience, irresponsibility, and unstudied ignorance; it’s a hotbed of people who remain in a state of idiocy. If we were idiots, then we must accept that and decide how we will deal with it and yet, when I think of how art students today are getting their information, the only thing that comes to mind are the small columns like this one in Bijutsu Techo. I’m pretty certain they never read primary sources. These things are essential communication tools which enable us to have a dialog about art. Essential! As an industry, Japanese fine art
has not changed in the 20 years since I first learned its ways. Students are preyed on by the art universities and after learning the politics of the system, either lose hope or become teachers themselves, climbing to the top of this carnivorous food chain. The mere survival of this system prevents further change. Thus, my goal is to edify the world of Japanese art universities and the art scene and send, on my own, artists of quality out into the world.
– Takashi Murakami

Murakami on Twitter 2015, January 3rd to 5th:

There are a lot of people I don’t like, and I have a lot of insults and abuse for them, so I can totally understand what people say to Murakami. They start by saying he has no class, is vulgar, has an ugly face, or just says they don’t like him, and then go on to give detailed alibis. All I can say to those people is that I’m sorry.

2:12 AM · Jan 5, 2015

Link_https://x.com/takashipom/status/551909020924002304

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 5
ワシも気に入らない人間、沢山いるし、そういう奴らへの罵詈雑言、腹の中にはあるので、村上へのそう言うの、全然わかります。品が無い＝下品とか、顔が汚いとか、とにかく嫌い、から始まって細かいアリバイあげて行ったりとか。イヤホント、その方々へはすみませんですとしか言いようがありません。

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 5
つまり、村上なんで嫌いか、において、竹熊さんとの対話内のあれこれの様な、嫉妬とか文脈じゃ無く、もっとこう本質的に嫌なんだよ、という事を言いたい、人に伝えたい、だから、とにかくアリバイをリマインドして、騙されるなよ！と伝えたいのですな。
takashi murakami retweeted

林ライス @h_rice
Jan 5
@yurivsky 村上隆氏、その件をロマンさんに指摘されて、完全にすっとぼけてるのを見てると何だか盗んだバイクで走りだしたくなります（イミフ

nomori_nomori @nomr_nm
Jan 5
村上隆って圧倒的に「下品」だと思ってて（題材のチョイスとかそういう低次元な意味でなく）それが多くの人から嫌悪感を持たれる最大の理由だと思ってるんだけど、違うのかなー。芸人でいうと品川の感じ。西野とか大谷の嫌われ方とはまた違う感じ。
takashi murakami retweeted

nomori_nomori @nomr_nm
Jan 5
村上隆がももクロに対して何を言ったか、の問題で、村上自身の言いわけが「不用意な発言、するはずが無い」から、というのが笑える。「そんなこと考えてなかった」というのではなく、あくまで対外的なことを気にしてたから言ってないのだ、という点が正直というか村上の数少ない良さが出たというか
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
@takashipom これは失礼しました。しかし村上さん、ここに来て映画を作り、次にテレビアニメ放映に手をつけられますね。いよいよ表現者として正念場ではないですか。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
@takashipom ディズニーも「自分のブランド化」に成功した稀有な人物ですね。それはある意味、世界中のアーティストの目標ですよね。ルーカスもそれをやっている。おそらくスティーブ・ジョブズも。ジョブズは「実業家アーティスト」と言えますよね。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
@takashipom 村上さんが今、「辛い時期」に身を置いているとすれば、もしかすると外野からの批判に晒されていることだけではなくて、表現者としてある種の「守り」に入ってしまったからではないですかね。早く成功しすぎたと言うか…。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
.@pukuyama 手塚治虫にだって「商売人」という批判があったんですよ。漫画家として史上初めて長者番付に名前が載ったときから、マスコミにそう呼ばれました。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666 
Jan 4
@takashipom やはり「ブランドビジネス」が村上さんの中核にあるというわけですね。でも芸術をビジネスにするというのは、畢竟、そうですよね。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
@takashipom つまり錬金術士の怪しさが、画商にも出版社にも付きまとっていると思うんですよ。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
@takashipom 言葉としていいかはわからないですが、表現ビジネスは、一種の錬金術でしょう。無価値から価値を創造する。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
@takashipom 「表現ビジネス」には不透明な部分が付きまといます。小説家や漫画家も同じです。村上さんはご自分でそれを発見されたわけですよね。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
@takashipom そうなんですか。でも、それでも普通のアーティストはそこまではやらないというか、やれませんよね。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
村上さんは漫画家が出版社まで自前で運営するようなことを、早い時期から実現している。ふつう表現者は表現だけ考えればいいとされる。これはハイカル・サブカルを問わないが、村上さんが「商売人」と呼ばれても「自前の商売システム」に固執するのは、それを含めて彼の表現だからだと思う。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
これ以前に、村上さんは早い段階から「自分の表現を製作する会社」を作って、弟子ならぬ社員に給料を支払っている。９０年代に私が村上さんに会った時からそうだった。漫画家が自分のプロダクションを持つことは珍しくないが、作品を自分で売るところまではやらない。それは出版社の領域だからだ。
takashi murakami retweeted

竹熊健太郎《編集家》 @kentaro666
Jan 4
私が村上隆さんを評価するのは、村上さんが「システム込み」で自分の表現を考えているアーティストだからだ。ここで言う「システム」とは、村上さんが、「自分の作品を自分で売る」ところまで自分で構築していること等を指す。それ以外に有明でGEISAI（芸術のコミケ）を主催している等。

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
まぁ、無理か！

takashi murakami @takashipom 
Jan 4
森ミュージアムだけじゃなくて、もう一つ、でかい美術館の展覧会も日本国内で行うのだが、それは情報解禁、いつなのかわからんので、○○さん！情報解禁日、教えてください。こっちも、伏線はって、村上悪現象を『自分が発見しました！』的に言い出す、早とちりな言論者が湧くのが防げるといいんですが

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
、、、という、逆境なので、森ミュージアムの関係者の皆様。ほんと、ご迷惑をメチャクチャかけると思うのですが、スミマセン。。。と、最初から謝りつつ、しかし、ワシ的には森稔的なスピリットで、現状打破の錦の御旗を掲げて、勝手にわーわーやるので、スミマセンです。

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
とは、言っても、ぐるぐる同じとこ回るんだが、騙されてた、、、とはならず、騙されてた事が正解になっている業界なんで、これが僕にとってはややこしく、僕以外にとっては「村上＝悪」「嘘つき」「パクリ屋」「外人騙し」となる訳です。今も尚。

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
騙されてた人、結構大勢居たと思うよ。

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
よ！」と切り返すと、「なぁ～に言ってんだよ、そういうのは各国でいろいろバリアがあるんだよ。現に村上君だって苦しんでんじゃないの？ん～？」と言ってたあの人、その後、日本人作家の事書くわ、外国の専門誌には寄稿出来ないわ、おまけに、、、という。。。まぁ、沈没してるんでどうでもいいが

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
１５年、、、２０年前、当時、アート論壇に登場した某氏。「自分は日本のアーティストの事は書かない。理由？そりゃ～書くに足る作品がないからだよ、、、ね！う～ん！」と僕の目を見つめて言って来たので、僕は僕で「じゃあ、○○さん、その論文とやらを海外のアート誌に掲載して真価を問うてください

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
印象論もくだらんので止めてもらうのを期待したい。。。です。

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
、、、という、日本においては『悪』な論理でもって活動しているワシなのだが、そのワシが森ミュージアムで個展をやるので、もう、そりゃあ、非難囂々だわな。しかも知識人面した連中はこぞって批判するであろうが、是非是非、的を得た批判を展開してほしいもんだ。批判なんだかなんだかわからん

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
しかし、無学がデフォなんで、こっちが悪になってる訳です。ははは。

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
現代美術に関しては絶望的である、と言える。そういう連中にワシの作品の事を的外れな言説で批判されたりすると、いや、なんともかんとも、、、苦笑というか、おいおい読者騙してんじゃねぇ～の、レベル。とにかくバランスが悪いと言うか無学過ぎ。

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
事、美術 ARTに関する論文に関してして言わせてもらうと、日本国内で信頼をおけると言われていたり、ご自身もそう思ってたりしている論識者に含蓄のある人は絶無である。少ない、のではなく、ほぼ居ない。僕が信頼できるのは日本美術に関して、数名、歴史的なモノに関しても超少数、

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
意味、等をミックスして、で、今、どうよ、的な記事が書けて、そういう観点だったら、なるほどね、と頷ける。しかし日本のジャーナリズム、特にアート関連は博識が無く、無学な大衆（という勝手な設定）をターゲットにすることで、己の無知無学無努力を肯定し、薄い記事しか書けない。
takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
http://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-market-analysis-why-collectors-love-takashi-murakami-part-one-148093 … 村上隆のマーケットのあれこれが書かれてる記事のこっちが Part 1。キャルルボーゲルさんというNYTのアート関連の記者がいて、この前NYTを退社したのですが、彼女とか、アート界のマーケット、パワーゲーム、ゴシップ、学術的な

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 4
http://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-market-analysis-why-collectors-love-takashi-murakami-part-2-162123 … 村上隆作品マーケットの検証。「こういうの嫌い！」「アートは金の為にあるものじゃない！」「儲けりゃ勝ちかよ」とか、、、言われる訳ですが、事実としてこういう世界もある訳で、その中での闘い方ってのも、ある訳なのです。

あきまん @akiman7
Jan 3
例えば村上隆さんがアニメとか漫画に影響をうけたという作品を発表し高く評価されお金を得たとしましょう。それが誰かの権利を侵害してるならその人が訴えればいいし、なんでかすめ取ってることになるのかな。アート市場を欲しかったんならその人がその業界が取りに行けば良かった。品性が下衆なんだよ

あきまん @akiman7
Jan 3
村上隆さんへのdisで最も不当だと思った類のものは村上さんがアニメとかオタク産業の利益をかすめ取ってる的なやつですね。オタク産業自身いろんな人がお互い影響されあって現在に至っているのにアートを名乗った途端激しい排他的な気分を自分の中に沸かせてしまったら自分をクズだと思った方がよい

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 3
そういうつるべ落としの人生の落ち込みゾーンに、知り合いからの報告があって、更に深淵に落ちていっている訳です。。。

takashi murakami @takashipom 
Jan 3
さっき、知り合いから、「また村上、ツイキャスとかでやられてるよ！」と言われて、そこを覗きにいったら、自分が好きなクリエーターであったので、非常にへこんだ次第、、、でした。おわり。。。
Jan 3
こうした村上周りの風評の悪さ、前は、関係ないや、と捨てておいてなのですが、特に今年は、いくつもの映像のプロジェクトもありまして、そっち方面の共同事業者の皆さんにおいて、不安視される方も結構大勢おりまして、そうした雑音が大変申し訳なく思える状況でもあり、な訳です。

takashi murakami @takashipom
Jan 3
（再録とか、配信とか、現場でのキャスティングとか止めてくださいとかのお願い）それでも、突っ込んでこられたら、もう止むなし、ということでやるんですが、とにかく、こういうSNS以外での露出は止めようとしています。

トークショウとかでゲストとか、ピンでのお誘いも沢山頂くんですが、基本お断りしているんですが、昔からのしがらみの関係では断り辛く、一度お断りして、それでもどうしても、というときには、いろいろ条件を聞いていただいて

個展をやる事になったんですけれども、でも、もういわれの無いdisは嫌だなぁ～とか、とはいえ、disとはそもそもいわれの無いものだしなぁ～とか、いろいろ心中複雑な訳です。

「男だった」と言われていたのに、もう超弩級共感したりしてて、そういう珍しいスケールがぶっ飛んだ森稔さんが、「なんで村上君の展覧会やんないの？」と今の社長の辻さんに言ってて、それを何度も辻さんから聞いてたりして、今回、いろいろ満を持してなんで、ということで、迷惑をおかけするの上等で

takashi murakami @takashipom
プロジェクトに関わった訳なんですが、そこでもう「ええええ？？？」という森稔氏の街作りへの闘魂をみてしまって、感服したからなのです。その詳細は長い長い話なので今日は書きませんが、ほんと、凄い男だったし、森ビルで行ったお別れ界の弔辞でも、偉大な人だった、とか、そういう言い方じゃなくて

takashi murakami @takashipom
disられるか、たまったもんじゃないと思ったし、そういう状況が、開催する美術館にも大迷惑をかけてしまう、と思ったからです。でも、なんというか、森稔氏に対して僕は心の底から尊敬していた部分があって、それはクリエーターとしての部分なんですが、六本木ヒルズを造ってるときに呼び出されて

takashi murakami @takashipom
なんでこんな事をグダグダ書いてるかと言いますと、今年、六本木ヒルズのミュージアムでワシの個展があるんですが、これ、ある意味、今は亡き、森稔さんとの約束的な文脈で行われる訳でして、、、。。。しかし、ワシは開催をとことん嫌がった訳です。理由は日本との相性が悪く、個展やるともうどんだけ

takashi murakami @takashipom
まぁ、最近は、何が何でも日本では嫌われる事がわかって来たので、まず汚い顔を晒してしまう、メジャーなメディア、TVや雑誌等には出ない様にしようと決めました。

先般も僕のGAGOSIANでの個展を悪くレポートしてる評論家筋の人が居ましたが、別に個人の主観だからいいんですが、批判の争点が的外れなんだが、しかしその的外れの的は、実は、日本の一般の人達にとってはストライクな部分である事もそういう人たちはわかってて、ニーズに沿って語ってる訳

takashi murakami @takashipom
そういう日本国での嫌われ状況を、誇張してレポートする人も出て来てたりして。なんというか、嫌う人間があれこれとスライドして、いつまでも嫌われ続けているんですよねぇ～。日本絡みでは。。。

takashi murakami @takashipom
やってたら、今度は、顔が汚いだのなんだの。。。嫌われグランドスラムですな。しかし、その一方で、国外でのビジネスと評判があがってて、コレまた嫌われ状況を深刻にしていて、外国に向かって「村上はぱちもんですよ』と訴える連中も出て来たり、外国人の日本通的な文筆業の方々も、

takashi murakami @takashipom
それから、オークションの落札価格に反応され始めた頃からは、日本の世間一般から嫌悪され始めました。それに反応した一般的な評論家筋も、ここぞとばかりに叩き始めたのですが、それをワシも良しとせず、くそ！っとばかりにTVとか、出演依頼があったらガンガン出て、そういう状況に糞食らえ、と

takashi murakami @takashipom
で、アメリカ行って、オタク系の作品発表し始めて、アメリカのアート専門誌とかで、今年のベスト１０とかに選ばれた頃には、そういう評論家筋は無言になり、、、まぁ、当たり前なんですが、、、で、オタクに叩かれはじめました。主に「パクリだ」言われて。

takashi murakami @takashipom
日本国内では受けてるが、外国じゃ歯がたたんだろ。当時の外国で活動している他のアーティストの名前出して比べられて、村上は日本のイベントでコソコソやってるだけだぜ、と揶揄されとりました。加勢大周やアングラのイベントや、P−HOUSEやってる時です。

takashi murakami @takashipom
アート業界で嫌われてたのにはいくつか理由があって、１つはアートにオタク、サブカルの文脈を混ぜて、業界に不純な風紀を持ち込んだから。まぁ、やっぱ、見た目と言動のマッチングが駄目だったんでしょうなぁ～。美術評論家筋には、マタゾロ嫌われてたなぁ～。

takashi murakami @takashipom
あ、違う違う。。。美術業界からはデヴュー当時から嫌われてて、しかし、サブカル業界からは最初は愛されてた気がするんだよなぁ～と。いろいろよく記事になったりとかしてたし。

takashi murakami @takashipom
で、１６億円のMLCの時あたりから、漫画で揶揄されたりしたんだが、ネットの出現で、嫌われる事だけが一人歩きもして来たなぁ～と。なので、つい最近も、なんかフォローしただけで嫌われたりして、金儲かってんだろ！協力するんだったらいいけれども、見下されているようだ、とか。。。

takashi murakami @takashipom
とにかく、今のワシは何でもかんでも嫌われる。しかしデヴュー当時は愛されても居た気がするなぁ～と。いつ頃から嫌われ始めたかというと、やっぱ海洋堂BOMEさんとのコラボ作品（フィギュア）がオークションで高値を付けた頃だったか。最初はHIROPONだったかな。で次がKO2ちゃんで、

takashi murakami @takashipom
今、ワシ、若干弱ってるんで、dis見て憂鬱な気持ちになっておる。後、いろんな ああ言ったりこう言ったりなネットの話題みて、これ又憂鬱に！

satoshi shimada @maruomaruo
まあ、村上隆さんを認めろというのは無理な話でしょう。ファンもいますが、むしろニッチな部類に向けたアートだと思いますよ。あくまで個人的意見ですが。一つの真実は世界で見ると、大金をかけてオークションで競り合うお金持ちのファンが二人はいたということでしょう。 #Eテレ

FACEBOOK, Murakami 2015/5/17
なんちゅ～か、ワシの考える「ココ」というスポットが狭すぎて、日本で共通言語になりづらい。
アメリカ、日本国外でワシが人気なのは、そもそも、『日本という括り』がそもそもマイノリティーなので、チッチな差異はどうでもよくて、面白いかどうかのみの篩にかかるかどうか、なのである。
なので、
で、ワシの「ココ」はなにか、ちゅーと、日本の若手の現代美術作家のムードが嫌い、大大大 大嫌い！ちゅ～こっちゃ。
日本の若手（まぁ、３０歳前後ぐらいの）の現代美術界に蔓延している、コミュニティー的っていうのか、なんちゅーか、ロハスとくっついたような、仲間～みたいな、学校とか、そういうトコがセットアップしたトコでぬくぬくメンヘラ表現やってます的な、そういう雰囲気のアートっつーか、ああ言うのが兎に角大嫌いである。
まぁ、言うてみれば、日本各所で開催されている、○○ビエンナーレ、とか、○○トリエンナーレとかの界隈に流れる空気っつーんですか？
みんな友達ぃ～、みたいな、そういう気分。
美大と地続きみたいな感じ。。。
そのくせ、連中の物言いを観察していると、結局は自分勝手かつ、ちっちゃな権威主義っつーか、○○大学の○○とか、ヴェニスヴィエンナーレでどうちゃらとか、そういうのわざわざ謳ってる。
そして、タコが自分の足を食ってる状態になってる。
そう言う感じの気分、わかる気もするが、俯瞰してみて、作品も理屈も弱すぎて次世代にまでも生き残れないと思う。まぁ、刹那的な部分が、若さとして美しくもあると言う理屈もあるのだが、そういう部分は置いといて、アートとして芸術として、芸術の理論として、生き方として、弱い。
弱くても、みんな一緒！それで助け合うのが美なんだよ、的な思考、嗜好、、、。。。
そういうのが嫌で、実力試しのコンペ GEISAIを企画してたが、出展者が減り、常連出展者はなんかいけてない公募展みたくなってきて、出展者達との意識のズレを決定的に感じて、やめた。
GEISAIは日本では全く受け入れられんかった、、、、。。。
失敗した。
なので悪態ついてるだけとみられるであろうが、仕方が無い。
ワシの想いは日本では通じんかった。
如何に、堅牢な肉体を持った芸術を産み出せるか、という想い。
アートは今時的な、そういう弱い感じのもんちゃうやろ、という哲学がワシにはあるので、そう言う連中の在り方に対して、常に、糞食らえ、と思っておる。
トレンドの風向きが変わったとたんに、居なくなるであろうから、別にいいんだが、今、連中が元気な時にあえてこうして文句言っておきたくて、書きました。
と言う事する、嫌みなおっちゃんであります。

For some reason, my idea of ​​”here” is too small to be a common language in Japan. The reason why I am so popular in the U. S., outside Japan, is because people in the “Japanese category” are minorities in the first place, so trivial differences don’t matter, and it’s all about whether or not it’s interesting. So, what does this “here” mean for me? I hate the mood of young Japanese contemporary artists, and I absolutely hate it! Fuck-ya.
There’s a kind of community-like thing that’s prevalent in the contemporary art world of young Japanese people (well, around 30 years old), like friends who have stuck with LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability), like schools, things like that. It’s art that has a warm atmosphere of “menhera” (Mental Health) in the place set up, and I hate that kind of thing.

Well, if you ask me, is there an atmosphere that flows around the ○○ Biennale and ○○ Triennale that are held in various parts of Japan? It feels like we’re all friends. It’s like a continuation of art school. . .
However, when I look at what they say, I find that they end up being selfish and petty authoritarian, and they go out of their way to sing things like XX at XX University, and how about at the Venice Biennale. . And now the octopus is eating his own leg. I feel like I can understand how you feel, but when you look at it from a bird’s-eye view, I think that both the work and the logic are too weak to survive even into the next generation. Well, there is a theory that the ephemeral part is beautiful as youth, but putting that part aside, it is weak as an art, as an art theory, as a way of life. Even if we are weak, we are all together! That’s why it’s beautiful to help each other, thoughts, preferences, etc. . .

I didn’t like that kind of thing, so I planned a competition called GEISAI to test the skills, but as the number of exhibitors decreased and the regular exhibitors started to feel like it was a public exhibition where they weren’t doing well, I realized that there was a definite rift in consciousness with the exhibitors. I felt that way and stopped. GEISAI was not accepted at all in Japan… . .
We’re screwed. So it may seem like I’m just cursing, but it can’t be helped. My feelings could not be understood in Japan. My thoughts are on how I can create art with a solid body.
I have a philosophy that art is all about the contemporary, weak aspects of art, so I always think that I should shit on people who say that.
I don’t really care because they will probably disappear as soon as the trend changes, but I wrote this because I wanted to complain about them now when I am doing well.
That’s what I say, I’m a disgusting old man.

2016/2/8 on Facebook

Takashi Murakami
横浜美術館でのスーパーフラットコレクション展
NHKの日曜美術館は森美術館の個展の紹介時に、同時開催のこの展覧会を紹介してくれなかった。
日本のメディア独特のバランス感覚で「紹介できるのは番組になったモノだけ」とか、なんとか。
アメリカだったら、さらっと「村上さんのコレクション展もやってますよ」と紹介してくれることであろう。
でも、そのアメリカも、今の日本人は大嫌いのようだから、比較したところで共感は得られまい。
日本で純粋芸術の活動は本当にやり辛い。
無学無教養の連中目線がとにかく基準。
なんで、そういう連中に目線合わせなきやならんのか？
NHKは心の狭いマイノリティークレーマーにビビってるんだろうか？
館長の逢坂えり子さんも落胆していた。
僕らは、何度も言いましたが、NHKがどうしてもダメだといったので、どうかご理解くださいな。
僕は個人的には、観客の動員に期待はしていないというか、日本でそもそも人気がない、嫌われているから来るわけがないと思っているが、横浜美術館の皆は、動員を期待して、わざわざ森美術館での僕の個展と被るようにしてきているのに、申し訳なかったです。

Yoshitomo Nara
酷いね〜、その番組。作家や展覧会自体に対し、リスペクトすること無く、番組上の方針を重視する。

English translation:
Superflat Collection Exhibition at Yokohama Museum of Art
(Semi-National TV Channel) NHK’s “Sunday Museum of Art” did not introduce this concurrent exhibition when it introduced the solo exhibition at the Mori Art Museum.
With a sense of balance unique to the Japanese media, they said, “We can only introduce things that are part of the program,” or something like that.
If it were in the U.S., they would have simply said, “We are also holding an exhibition of Mr. Murakami’s collection”.
However, it seems that even in the U.S., Japanese people nowadays dislike the American media so much that they would not feel any sympathy when compared to them.
It is really difficult to engage in pure art activities in Japan.
The standard is based on the viewpoints of uneducated and illiterate people.
Why should we have to look at them?
Is NHK scared of narrow-minded minority claimers?
Eriko Osaka, the director of the museum, was also disappointed.
We have told them (NHK) many times, but NHK insisted (replied) that “it was not allowed, so please understand”.
Personally, I don’t expect to mobilize an audience, or rather, I don’t think they will come because I am not popular in Japan to begin with and they don’t like me, but everyone at the Yokohama Museum of Art went out of their way to have their exhibition coincide with mine at the Mori Art Museum in hopes of mobilizing an audience, and I am sorry for that.

Yoshitomo Nara
That program is terrible! They focus on the policy of the program without respecting the artists and the exhibition itself.

2016/3/10 on Facebook

Takashi Murakami
March 10 at 7:27pm ·

な、なんじゃこりゃあ！ぁあああ！！！
アホなだけの会社じゃないか！、、、！！！
まぁ、そうなんだが。。。
しかし、ココ2～3年のカイカイキキの新入社員の中には、村上と関わったこともない人間が多く、ワシが直で現場に入って、彼らと触れ合うとオロオロしてて、大変ムカつく。（というか、オロオロするふりをすると許されるという勝ちパターンを過去の人生で持っている感じでそういう部分だけずる賢い）
今年からは、入ってきたら、ワシの直下にくっつけて散々アートの下働きをさせねばと思う。
アートを上から目線の職場と思ってる輩が多いが、そういうのを許されるのは、２代以上貴族階級に属して、己で客を２０人ほど連れてこれる奴に限られているのだ。客というのは年間に１億円ほど買ってくれるポテンシャルを持った顧客だ、、、というと、日本には貴族階級は無いので、日本人は全て叩き上げしか考えられない。
日本のアートシーンの弱点は、金のダイナミズムを嫌う、基本左翼思想的な奴らがアートをしたり顔で理解しているように語り、それをフォローする層がいたりすることだが、、、、というか、日本のアート界は99，99％そういう輩なので、そういうのはワシは全く関係ないので、其の意味でも、もう日本のアートシーンでの仕事の場など無いし、したくもないのだ。
資本主義を反対するなら筋通して貰えばいいのだが、そうかといって、ただ飯ただ酒をうまそうに飲んで食って、その批評したりする奴らは、どの口がそういう事を語る事ができるんじゃんボケ！といつも思う。
資本主義の歪みもほつれも、全部引き受けての人間バンザイが、芸術の世界の現場なのに、そういう覚悟が全く無い。理解できないし、学んでもいない。で、自分の不勉強を棚に上げて逆ギレするのが最近のネット界での芸になる。それで小銭を稼げる。
しかし、それが資本主義型芸術に相反するだけの根拠と正義を持っているはずもないのだ。
賛成の反対、反対の反対。
持論を言わずに反対といえばアイデンティティが成立する、戦後日本の悲しい現実。
そういう現場での村上＆カイカイキキは、異分子であり、カルトであり、邪魔者なだけであろう。
で、そういう会社がカイカイキキなので、働く人間には、それ相応の覚悟が必要なんだよ！
わかるか？杉山くん！！！
丁稚奉公しないで、アートの現場での足場は確保できません！

Facebook / Instagram 2020/6/30 – 7/3

映画のプロジェクトは本当に難しいです。
沢山の芸術家の方が参加して、才能を瞬時に放出させて構成される総合芸術なので。参加してくださった、俳優陣、製作陣、ポストプロダクション陣、膨大な人数の人々がプロジェクトの完成を信じて、願って、より良いものを！と、にじり寄るプロジェクトです。
アート作品も大きなプロジェクトは多くの人数を巻き込みますが、映画とは違った風景で、映画は複雑さが桁外れで、それだけに才能が沢山必要です。
今回の発表は、止むに止まれぬ事情での中止でした。
関わってくださったスタッフの方々に、なんらかの誠意ある、、、と、言えるかどうか自信はないのですが、僕の考えれるベストの形での発表形式で、皆が集中してくれた才能を多くの人に見てもらえたら、一矢報いれないか、と、藁をもすがる気持ちで製作放映し始めました。
使ってる日本語、正しくなさそうですが、とにかく、自分の考えれるベストの形式でこれ迄の9年間の努力を開陳して、少しでも溜飲を下げてもらえるようにしようと思います。ヨロシクお願いいたします。

Link_https://www.instagram.com/p/CCEDqIQlmy5/

takashipom
I’m a silly human being

This spring, I streamed a series of cooking show of a sort on Instagram Live. I’m sure those who watched them were utterly confused, but I was trying to buoy my own thoroughly sunken feelings through these streamings.

With the sudden swoop of COVID-19 pandemic, my company faced bankruptcy and I had to give up on a number of projects, the most symbolic of which being the production of my sci-fi feature film, Jellyfish Eyes Part 2: Mahashankh.

For nine long years, I had persevered! It was a film that was to realize my childish dreams! The enormous budget I poured into this project, as well as my tenacious persistence, put a constant and tremendous stress on my company’s operation for the past nine years. But at the same time, I was able to endure various hardships because I had this project.

Faced with the current predicament, however, I was persuaded by both my business consultant and tax attorney that I must, simply must try and drastically reduce our business tax by filing the film’s production cost as tax-exempt expenditure. To that end, I am going to produce and release a series of videos to publicly announce the discontinuation of the film’s production. (To be clear, this is an entirely legitimate procedure—I’m not trying to evade tax!)

These videos will be released against the backdrop of our struggle to avoid an economic catastrophe, but perhaps it may have a cathartic effect on the viewers/my followers to see the story of stupid Murakami’s failure. Long story short, I’m a silly human being for whom the moment of bliss is when I am thinking my truly childish sci-fi thoughts.

I don’t know how many episodes the series will end up being, but a series it will be, so please come along with me on this journey for a little while.

Facebook 森下泰輔 MORISHITA Taisuke 2020/7/3
12 hrs

村上が破産宣言。どこまでマジかは不明。コロナ禍とアニメ制作の失敗？
彼はリーマンショック直後も一度ラジオで破産宣言しているからね。曰く「このままでは年は越せない」直後にカタールからビッグオーダーが入ってつながった。
まあ美術家は筆一本で継続できるからな。作るのは困らないだろう。
「村上隆は、彼が破産の瀬戸際にいることを今日明らかにしました。
村上は彼のInstagramに投稿されたビデオで、彼のスタジオ内から直接200万人以上のファンに「悲痛な話」を詳しく説明しています。アシスタントは彼の後ろで働いているようです。ラベルは、撮影日が1か月以上前の5月23日であることを示し、字幕は、Hypebeastによって最初に報告され た15分のビデオに付属しています。
村上氏は、彼のギャラリーとアート会社のカイカイキキが破産に直面していること、そして彼のペットプロジェクトを含む彼の現在のベンチャーの多くで突然生産を停止せざるを得なかったと 説明します。」

English translation:
Murakami declared bankruptcy. How much of this is serious is unclear. The Corona disaster and the failure of his animation production?
He declared bankruptcy once on the radio right after the Lehman Brothers collapse, too. According to him, ‘I can’t go through the year like this’ Immediately afterwards, a big order came in from Qatar and it was connected.
Well, an artist can continue with just one brush. They won’t have any trouble making it.
‘Takashi Murakami revealed today that he is on the brink of bankruptcy.
In a video posted on his Instagram, Murakami details his ‘heartbreaking story’ to over two million fans directly from inside his studio. His assistants appear to be working behind him. Labels indicate the date of filming is 23 May, over a month ago, and subtitles accompany the 15-minute video, first reported by Hypebeast.
Murakami explains that his gallery and art company Kaikai Kiki is facing bankruptcy and has had to abruptly stop production on many of his current ventures, including his pet project.’

My comment: Mario Ambrosius
Thank you Morishita-san for your opinion on this big, global arty news, as everyone else here on Facebook (your, our FB-friends) is quite, incl. Murakami himself on his fb page. Interesting comments, which are all right, but also wrong. The only artist of the Top 3 (Hirst, Koons, Murakami), who works successfully (see last year’s Hong Kong solo exhibition), is Murakami. Art practice’s critical acclaim in the global scene became obsolete, as every year the number of eclectic artists doubles. Gagosian just recently offered one of his sculptures openly for 800.000 US$ and Sotheby’s evening auction last Saturday hammered down another Murakami piece for 1.400.000 US$. If we can just objectively agree, that besides the boring, repetitive art by respected Kusama on the art market, Murakami is doing much better than any other artist from Japan. It doesn’t matter, what bullshit and wrong statements/texts Murakami said/proclaimed in the past 30 years. Everybody knows that. My view, – even he’s scaling down with his company, he alone has still every possibility to continue to play the contemporary arty game. The “Just do it”- concept. The Mori Museum “Star”-show, this month, proves again, that the Japanese curators are not willing to ignore him. In this regard, the “responsibility” remains here, in Tokyo, in the heart of the Japanese art scene, and his artists’ colleagues and art dealers. (The objective perspective.)
Disclaimer: I retreated temporarily my harsh article on colleague Murakami (and his brother) @ ART+CULTURE, out of concern, because I regard Murakami’s family (wife + son ?) in not a stable, mental situation. We should be careful. Art history is actually being written.

Let’s switch to NARA Yoshitomo.

Nara on 2017/3/28
Question, Paul Laster
You’ve said that you aren’t an artist. If that’s the case, what are you?
Nara:
I put that down as my profession when I have to, but there are so many other versions of me: Traveler, farmer, writer, teacher, student, photographer and music critic. Rather than being an artist, I’m striving to be a full-fledged human being. The probability of having nonart resonances in my work is quite high, and isn’t that what being human is all about?
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/blog/yoshitomo-nara-discusses-the-importance-of-drawing-and-zen-serenity-to-his-work-032817

養老院に飾られると聞いて、というかそのために描いた。この大きさで軽自動車くらいの値段だっと思う。最初はそこにあったらしいがいつの間にか海外に売られて、今は会ったこともないお金持ちの家にあるのですね。
I heard that it would be displayed in a nursing home, so I painted it for that purpose. I think it costs about the same size as a light car. Apparently it was there at first, but before I knew it, it was sold overseas, and now it’s in the house of a rich man I’ve never met.
Link_https://twitter.com/michinara3/status/1730140320028086706

自分は良い絵とイマイチな絵との差が激しいのでアベレージを上げていかなくちゃ！とか思うんだけど・・・
For me, there is a huge difference between good pictures and not-so-good pictures, so I have to improve my average! That’s what I think…

Link_https://twitter.com/michinara3/status/1756577086452777381

There was a time when Nara argued on TV that his art dealer KOYAMA Tomio 小山登美夫 did not transferred his earned money. The only critic Nara trusted had been MATSUI Midori 松井みどり, as she was responsible for his first seriously written English ‘paid’ reviews. However, the situation changed when she categorised him as a HIKI-KOMORI 引きこもり art worker. Japanese people who withdraw completely from society and seek an extreme degree of social isolation and confinement. In Nara’s case, this ‘analytical box’ of Matsui is simply wrong and Nara became furious.

In another instance, Nara used ウンコ野郎 ‘motherfucker’ several times and couldn’t take any criticism. Here, too, you can clearly see how some people, in this case Nara, feel ‘higher, privileged, elite’ than the general art scene. Nara’s discriminating, chauvinist character comes to light.
It was a chapter in the book “Before and After Superflat: A Short History of Japanese Contemporary Art 1990-2011” (2012) in which Nara was presented from a social-analytical (not art-critic) perspective, mixed with the author’s personal, British witty humour written impressions. Nara didn’t like the chapter and publicly insulted renown sociologist Professor Adrian Favell as a ウンコ野郎 motherfucker.

Nara insults all foreigner in Japan by calling them “外人” GAIJIN, not in the proper way: GAIKOKU-JIN 外国人 or GAIKOKU NO KATA 外国の方.
yoshitomo nara ‏@michinara3
会ったこともない外人が、事実関係の下調べ無しに、想像で書いている文章。こういうふうに思う人は、その人自体がそういう人なんだと思う。かなり頭にきていて、訴えようかと思い中・・・困るよなぁ・・・！　　奈良: ビジネスマンとしての奈良美智 http://www.art-it.asia/u/rhqiun/9wL3d8W0aOtiDQqBlzxu/ …
This is a text written by a foreigner whom I have never met, based on his imagination, without researching the facts. I think people who think this way are themselves like that. I’m really pissed off and am thinking of suing…I’m in trouble…! Nara: Nara Yoshitomo as Businessman https://www.art-it.asia/u/rhqiun/9wL3d8W0aOtiDQqBlzxu/

AIDA Makoto, who called his solo show in the MORI ART MUSEUM 「会田誠展：天才でごめんなさい」”AIDA Makoto: Excuse me for being a Genius” (2012-2013), at that time replied to Nara:

会田誠 ‏@makotoaida
エイドリアン氏の奈良さん記事、やっと読みました。どこに事実誤認があるか正確に分からないので、ノーコメント。ただ僕も書かれたことがあるから分かるけど、辛口や皮肉は彼の毎度のスタイルで、特に相手が奈良さんだったからではない気がし…。 http://www.art-it.asia/u/rhqiun/9wL3d8W0aOtiDQqBlzxu/ …”
I finally read Adrian’s article about Nara. I don’t know exactly where the factual error is, so no comment. However, I know this because he has written also about me, and I think the scathing criticism and sarcasm is his usual style, and not because it was Nara in particular…. https://www.art-it.asia/u/rhqiun/9wL3d8W0aOtiDQqBlzxu/

Yoshitomo Nara as Businessman ビジネスマンとしての奈良美智
https://www.adrianfavell.com/BASF%20blurb%20page.htm

To put it bluntly: both art workers, personating pathetic guys from Japan, don’t enjoy themselves as successful, famous guys and mostly dislike the art world.
Said that, as in any other professional context too, the older you become, the more you can get an overview of the world.
I may confirm now, both art workers got mature and see the “art thing” more relaxed than when young.
They became adult, finally.

So as not to confuse and to prevent any misunderstandings…,
there’s no doubt that through Blum’s very hard work and belief in the two young art workers, his risk-taking together with his business partner Jeff Poe, he can proudly claim to have brought Japanese contemporary art into the global spotlight.
We are very grateful to him for his commitment and his gallery work.
I want to make this unmistakably clear.

Let me quote Jeff Poe:
“A month later, I was watching this movie Black Rain,” Poe said.
“It’s a great movie about the Japanese mob with Michael Douglas,” Blum added.
“And I was stoned, of course—I smoked pot all day every day at this point in my life,” Poe said. “And I was like, what am I gonna do? And then I was watching, and they’re in Tokyo, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that fucking Blum—that dumbshit from Japan wanted to open a gallery. Well, he must have money!
“I moved back in August of ‘94 and we opened September of ‘94,” Blum said.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/blum-and-poe-history-1784880

Let me now refer to a few anecdotes, my personal memories.

Nara and Murakami, two FAILED Japanese “Manga/Anime ILLUSTRATORS” with ABSOLUTELY NO artistic talent.
MURAKAMI Takashi admits publicly that he was/is too dumb for oil painting.

森美術館の村上隆個展の時、NHKの村上隆ドキュメンタリーのーコマ

He entered the “easy” Nihonga-painting 日本画 department at the university, as he couldn’t understand the practice of oil painting.
He openly declared that he can NOT paint, neither with oil and that he is ashamed of his acrylic paintings at the beginning of his career.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-takashi-murakami-start-artist

When he was 34 years old, he painted the following piece:

LOT
9
Takashi Murakami (B. 1962)
Miss ko2

Price realised
HKD 5,500,000

Estimate
HKD 2,000,000 – HKD 3,000,000
USD 260.000-390.000

Takashi Murakami (B. 1962)

Miss ko2

signed and dated ‘TAKASHI 1996’ (on the reverse)

acrylic on canvas mounted on wood

48 x 48 in. (122 x 122 cm.)

Painted in 1996.

Provenance
Feature, Inc., New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1998

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Paintings/takashi-murakami-miss-ko2-6300954-details.aspx?lid=1&from=relatedlot&intobjectid=6300954

quote:
A painting I made about 30 years ago with my own hands is coming up in an auction @christiesinc in Hong Kong. The work must be on display at the auction house, as several people have shot and posted the details on social media. As I captured and looked at some of those images, the painful feelings I had endured back around the time I painted the work vividly came back to me. As you can see from the photos, my techniques were totally crude and the work is poorly executed. It’s embarrassing to see my bewilderment laid bare on the surface, apparent in each brushstroke I made as I fumbled through my way, having never had seen a painting done in anime style in the art world. When I painted this piece, I hadn’t yet come up with the Superflat theory, and had never even dreamed that I would become an artist who paints lots of flowers. All I can remember feeling was pain and struggle.
more at Instagram:
Link_to_https://www.instagram.com/p/CHp9xESF-Zh/

Both Japanese art workers have managed to break into the American art market based primarily on the American “Art Flipper Methodology”, the concept of tax evasion through gifts to museums, incl. MoMA, and the American way of capitalist BOOM & BUST spirit.

To get an idea, what kind of person Murakami is, keep this sentence in mind:
“You’re lactating, you can’t be my business partner”
「お前、授乳中なんだから、俺のビジネスパートナーにはなれない」
Murakami to Boesky (2006)

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/michael-shnayerson-boom-excerpt-1553674

Once upon a time, in April 1999, as I attended the opening ceremony of DOB-kun’s adventures @ PARCO, Tokyo, Tim Blum fell into a trap.
The trap had been “set” by MURAKAMI Takashi.
The tool of the trap was AZUMA Hiroki 東浩紀, a prepotent social ANALyst and ex-slim-now-fat-alcoholic wannabe philosopher joke, who became Japan’s No.1 slander idiot on X.

check:
東浩紀 氏：「ぼくにはひとを見る目がないし、人望がないようです。」
Mr. AZUMA Hiroki: “I lack analytical skills towards people, it seems, I enjoy no popularity.”
https://art-culture.world/articles/azuma-hiroki-東浩紀/

Young Azuma, who had no idea about contemporary art, copied the sentences of other Japanese and Foreign Otaku オタク -researchers and wrote a paid, corrupting equivocal text for Murakami’s exhibition catalogue.

Since Mr. Blum had no expert knowledge about the genre of painting or the art history of painting, he was surprised to see a bright tableaux by Murakami, executed with cheap acrylic colours.
As everyone knows, there are almost no brushstrokes in acrylic, quick-drying, painting.
Blum, who had the thick brushstrokes of oil painting in mind, obviously called the tableaux, created as illustration, “super flat”.
Murakami liked Blum’s cool, catchy remark: “super flat”.

Blum hadn’t realized that the real, much more important, exhibition, quickly, in a hurry, curated by Murakami, was taking place in the basement of the Parco building, B1F. Nothing shallow or flat, but amateurish, kitsch Otaku オタク stuff by then un-known young creators. Azuma’s text mainly referred to this tiny exhibition. I watched the nervous Murakami from the side as he gave the last instructions to his people in the small rental space “LOGOS Gallery” just before the opening. Looking back, I can say that Japanese art history was made that day. I have to give Murakami Takashi credit for that.

Years passed and Murakami gradually constructed a theory that his practice as a Japanese art worker belonged directly in the lineage of the older Japanese painters. He called this fictitious, false theory the “SUPER FLAT” genre.

The rest is history, because Non-Japanese art journalists’ writings about Murakami can be analysed as lazy + ignorant, plus, they didn’t notice that SUPER FLAT is a joke.

“You’re lactating, you can’t be my business partner”
「お前、授乳中なんだから、俺のビジネスパートナーにはなれない」

Blum & Poe cleverly managed to put Murakami in the media spotlight during Art Basel by issuing a press release announcing that Murakami’s work had been sold for US$ 1 million. The announcement was published on the front page of the daily edition of The Art Newspaper during Art Basel. The collector David Teiger from L.A. can be described as partner in crime, as he was able to claim Murakami’s works for tax purposes and apparently succeeded in donating Murakami’s work to the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
See:
Takashi Murakami “727” 1996; Credit: Gift of David Teiger, Object number: 251.2003.a-c
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/88960

https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/david-teigers-passionate-pursuit-of-the-avant-garde

From Sarah Thornton “Seven Days In The Art World” 2008:

Another reason why David Teiger was able to realize this kind of speculative art flipper method lies in the analysis by President and CEO Christie’s Japan YAMAGUCHI Katsura 山口 桂: “After all, it is ‘ethnic’ to Westerners. It is only a work of art from some Far Eastern country. In such a situation, Takashi Murakami uses pop culture techniques such as ANIME, which is easy for Westerners to understand.”
山口 「やっぱり欧米人にとっては “エスニック” なわけですよ。どこか極東の国の一作品でしかない。そんな中で村上隆はアニメなどポップカルチャー的な手法を用いているので、欧米人にもわかりやすい。…」
From:
ニュー・令和コレクターズ・オン・ザ・ホライゾン New Reiwa-Collectors On The Horizon
https://art-culture.world/articles/new-collectors-ニュー令和-コレクターズ-現代アート/

My impression of the personal and business relationship between Tim Blum and MURAKAMI Takashi could be described as Love+Hate. There is no question that Murakami’s strategic plan “how to conquer America”, with what kind of works American collectors would buy his creations, and the willingness to take risks to achieve his goal of success in America had been appreciated and valued by all sides. Tim Blum has paved the way for him. However, Realsatire opened up as my collector OKAWARA Arishige 大川原 有重 explained me the following: during dinner in Ginza, Tim Blum told him in Japanese that he didn’t particularly like Murakami’s works.

Murakami, at the adult age of 29, created this childish BS for boys, which Tim Blum saw in real-time. Actually these kind of works are now in the collection of MOMAT, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. One wonders, WTF.

Art critic ICHIHARA Kentaro, artist Mario A, MIZUMA ART GALLERY owner MIZUMA Sueo, Tokyo, Aoyama, 10th of August 2001

For the non-initiates, for my esteemed ART+CULTURE readers, I see it as my duty as a Japanese artist to do some recapitulating educational work so that future Japanese art historians can also analyse the overall context to the best of their knowledge and belief.
My manifestos are published and were created during my symposiums with my then art dealer MIZUMA Sueo 三潴末雄 and art critic ICHIHARA Kentaro 市原研太郎.
When Murakami tries to fool foreigners with work titles that include “FUJIYAMA”, I of course get upset. He has to use “Mount Fuji” or “Fuji-san”.
Over the last 40 years, I have finally been able to tirelessly enforce the correct spelling of Japanese artists’ names in the Western language.
It’s not Takashi Murakami but MURAKAMI Takashi.
In this sense, my efforts and commitment have borne fruit, see the actual Japanese museums’ practice.

NARA Yoshitomo and me are the same age and have Germany as a reference point in our artistic lives. While I was creating socially committed artworks in the ’90s, Nara’s paintings showed childlike motifs. No social consciousness of the contemporary (fall of the Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square, Feminism etc.) at his age of 30.

more @
Yoshitomo und ich 美智と僕
https://art-culture.world/articles/nara-yoshitomo/

Please keep in mind, that I am talking about two adult men from Japan.
The following pic refers to a “Nara-Murakami” two-person exhibition. As you can see, Nara’s work “Space Cat” 1991 (left) and Murakami’s work “ポリリズム (レッド) (Polyrhythm , red) 1989 (right) reflect their childish art practices.
Nara in 1991 was 32 years old.
Murakami in 1989 was 27 years old.

In 1992 I went to see Murakami’s solo show at the legendary Roentgen Kunst Institut レントゲン藝術研究所, Omori, Tokyo. Attached are some materials from Murakami’s, art historically important, newsletters and a review in the Asahi Newspaper.

Years passed, Murakami failed with his childish “art fair” GEISAI and let’s have a look what kind of art workers he chose for his art dealing office, Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd..
カイカイキキには、村上隆をはじめ、世界のアートステージで活躍するアーティストが所属しています。
List taken from https://www.kaikaikiki.com/artists/

Murakami: “on my own, artists of quality out into the world”

Mr. = Japanese pedo art worker
青島 千穂 AOSHIMA Chiho = Wife of MURAKAMI Takashi
ob = Mediocre Japanese BS art worker
くらやえみ KURAYA Emi = Mediocre Japanese BS art worker
MADSAKI = Mediocre Japanese BS art worker
タカノ 綾 AYA TAKANO = Mediocre Japanese BS art worker
大谷工作室 Otani Workshop = Mediocre Japanese BS art worker
村田森 MURATA Shin = Mediocre Japanese BS art worker
TENGAone = Mediocre Japanese BS art worker
a.o.

The many lies from Murakami. He “promised” to put the Japanese art workers onto the global auction arena. See below Japanese text.
“GEISAI から世界のオークションへ” “From GEISAI to the Global Auctions”

---

Cultivate your Branding and Narrative as a Japanese art worker.

Hi, I’m Takashi Murakami from Japan! I’m a funny clown and famous artist who creates big sculptures about JAPANESE WOMEN WITH BIG BOOBS (Hiropon 1997) and JAPANESE MEN WITH HUGE PENIS (Lonesome Cowboy 1998)! やらしく！

see:
鳥山明・村上隆 TORIYAMA Akira ・MURAKAMI Takashi
https://art-culture.world/articles/murakami-takashi-toriyama-akira/

森美術館前なう！日本一美術家、天才村上隆の超ダサい、米国産、金色うんこ自画像！爆笑！！
In Front of The Mori Art Museum, NOW! Japan’s No.1 Artist, Genius MURAKAMI Takashi’s, Made in America, Golden Bullshit Self-Portrait Sucks! ROFL!!
https://art-culture.world/articles/genius-murakami-takashi-天才村上隆/

Artistmessage

As Concepts, I take pride in being the founder of the art world, incorporating childish and toy-like logic.

The ripples are getting bigger and bigger, and as the acceptance zone of art becomes huge in Asia, its childhood is endless, and we are entering an era where anything can be art.

I created this work as a work that seems to be the center of such ripples Takashi Murakami
https://www.roppongihills.com/en/sp/takashimurakamiproject/

Nevertheless, although his artistic work is primarily about works relevant to OTAKU オタク (i.e. predominantly single, maladaptive, suicidal 自殺願望のある Japanese men, who were NOT well loved, without any warm ‘skinship’ by their parents), it should be stated in all seriousness that he is married to attractive AOSHIMA Chiho 青島千穂. Murakami attaches importance to the fact that as a responsible father of two children, son Shinnosuke (approx. 14 years old) and daughter Natsuko (approx. 11 years old), he simultaneously creates child-friendly works, including kid’s films.

Murakami constantly emphasises that he is unhappy.
But he is lying, as he so often does.
In reality, he has had an exciting, eventful life as an art worker. With all the ups and downs that every person experiences in their life. He can currently call himself the happiest and successful art worker in Japan. To date, around 440.000 visitors (Murakami publicly set the target of 600.000) have come to his solo exhibition “Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto” (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, February 3 through September 1, 2024). The previous record at this museum was 240.000 visitors for the Warhol exhibition (September 17, 2022 through February 12, 2023), so the General Manager, TAKAHASHI Shinya 高橋信也（京都市京セラ美術館事業企画推進室 ゼネラルマネージャー), who comes from Kyoto, has to take pride, as it was his idea, project.
He experienced a scary, bumpy start.
Check:
MURAKAMI Takashi Show and Freezing Mother with Baby. Kyoto’s Problematic Image. Minor, B-Class Exhibitions @ Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art
村上隆個展と凍える母親と赤ちゃん。問題のある京都のイメージ。マイナー、Bクラスの展覧会 @ 京都市京セラ美術館
https://art-culture.world/articles/kyoto-city-kyocera-museum-of-art/

However, manoeuvring through rough, stormy sea like an experienced captain of a large cargo ship, he cleverly got the people from Kyoto and the foreign visitors with advertisements at the Tokyo Airport a.o. to see the child-friendly show, even without world famous Murakami’s masterpieces “Hiropon”, “Lonesome Cowboy” and “Miss Ko2”.
I assume, that Takahashi-san will in the near future receive several awards in Kyoto for his engaging work and accomplishments.
If Murakami gets similar awards will be watched with great interest from my side, because his erotic sculptures with sperm and breast milk may hinder the conservative, highly discriminating selection committee to consider. As is the case of world famous artist ARAKI Nobuyoshi 荒木経惟.

As side effect, Murakami just sold a huge work from this exhibition for several million dollars to the Pinault Collection in France.
In this regard, everybody involved seems to be very happy.

François Pinault Collection with Murakami’s work:
現代美術コレクター、兼オークションハウス・クリスティーズ社長フランソワ・ピノー氏のコレクション展 in モナコ公国
Contemporary Art Collector, Christie’s Auction House Owner François Pinault Shows His Collection In The Principality of Monaco
https://art-culture.world/articles/pinault-collection-ピノー・コレクション/

Actual youtube stuff:

Link_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8lBaOxBwNY
【斎藤幸平vs村上隆】なぜ批判？資本主義とアート！徹底議論【深すぎるアートの世界】

I noticed that Murakami recently is laughing, singing a lot, having fun during talk shows, concerts, interviews, events. A happy father who can play now with his kawaii children at his home in Kyoto and enjoys married life with his beloved wife Chiho.

Double-check:
森美術館前なう！日本一美術家、天才村上隆の超ダサい、米国産、金色うんこ自画像！爆笑！！
In Front of The Mori Art Museum, NOW! Japan’s No.1 Artist, Genius MURAKAMI Takashi’s, Made in America, Golden Bullshit Self-Portrait Sucks! ROFL!!
https://art-culture.world/articles/genius-murakami-takashi-天才村上隆/

Leaving aside the problem of the various, divergent, official titles about this sculpture, we are witnessing a revival of the CGSSP (Chauvinist-Goldish-Self-Sucking-Practice) in the endogenous context of contemporary art. Maurizio Cattelan, Damien Hirst and MURAKAMI Takashi (similar bling-bling concept by Jeff Koons) create works made of fake gold.
The intentions of these art workers may be different, but they certainly reveal an interpretation of irony bundled in megalomania. Fake madness, fake egotism, sarcastic grandioseness and a fooling of the mass audience. To fuck things up for the pure pleasure to fuck things up. And the curators stand nearby and applaud.

Looking back, since I had strongly criticised this sculpture in front of the Mori Museum in Roppongi, “Flower Parent and Child”, made in America 2019/2020, suddenly makes sense in Kyoto.
For what reason? Because actually, without Murakami knowing this 5-6 years ago, (see his show GUATEI @ Gagosian Beverly Hills, 2019)

https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2019/takashi-murakami-gyatei2/
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-takashi-murakami-start-artist

he as a father holds his kid by the hand and says: “Well, do you like this golden sculpture of the two of us? Near our home here in Kyoto? And the whole world admires, envies us.” And the child replies: “Thank you Papa. I love you”.

---

Hi, I’m Yoshitomo Nara, a cool guy from Japan! I LOVE L.A., American Rock Music and Dorothy in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “The Wizard of Oz”! ヨロシク！

Yoshitomo Nara: Blum & Poe is now a big gallery in California, but at first, they were in a tiny space— like five meters by five meters. Tim had seen my show at SCAI The Bathhouse, and he reached out to me. He saw something in me that wasn’t limited to Japan, something international that went beyond words, and wanted to do something with me. So that first show in America was titled Pacific Babies because I went over the Pacific Ocean. I think that’s where my history as an artist, as perceived by everyone else, started. For the first time I went to a place where I had no footing, a place not in Europe nor in Japan. Because of this, I was able to feel like I could live the rest of my life as an artist on the faraway West Coast—perhaps because there wasn’t as much of the class to establish what constituted mainstream culture, underground, and subculture. Things just danced out in the open. I think that the underground culture gained more and more popularity and became pop culture there. That kind of history of the West Coast has a lot in common with the process of how I became an artist. That was the first place I was able to feel accepted. On the West Coast, art journals gave me coverage even though I was new, and there were other artists in California who liked my work, and I remember being very happy.

full text:
https://patronmagazine.com/the-fundamental-emotions-all-humans-possess/

---

To recap, these following art dealers can be listed, who have worked with Murakami as a business partner so far:

Surugadai
Hosomi
Aoi
Cellar
Nasubi
Roentgen
SCAI
Perrotin
Tomio Koyama
Gavin Brown’s Enterprise
Feature
Blum & Poe
Boesky
Gagosian
Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

No real Asian, Latin American, German, Italian, Swiss or British business partners. Which gives food for thought.
Nor did Murakami receive an invitation to the Documenta in Kassel or the real Venice Biennale.
What remained are: Perrotin, Gagosian, Kaikai Kiki.

In my opinion, Marianne Boesky was Murakami’s most important art dealer. Despite all her efforts and the success she brought him, Murakami left Boesky. He said, he needed more money for film ( = a catastrophic failure by untalented Murakami) production, and switched therefore to Gagosian.

Murakami’s harsh words towards Marianne Boesky manifests the true state of mind and unpleasant, quite shocking character of this art worker from Japan:

“You’re lactating, you can’t be my business partner”
「お前、授乳中なんだから、俺のビジネスパートナーにはなれない」

The Japanese Murakami showed no GIRI-NINJO 義理人情, no loyalty, no gratitude, and moral debt towards Marianne Boesky.

Let’s read some quotes about Marianne Boesky talking about Murakami, published in English art news articles:

Dealer Marianne Boesky on Remaking Her Gallery, and Learning From the Last Art-Market Crash
artspace 2014/5/3, Andrew M. Goldstein
quotes:
How did Murakami catch fire?

It was a combination of things. He’s brilliant, and he’s rigorous, and every part of his plan is ruthless. We would train each other. He would come here or I would go to Japan and he would throw questions at me about the art world and art market. He was a ruthless information-seeker because his first goal was to create an art market in Japan for his generation—it wasn’t about and still isn’t about making money and being famous. He was trying to legitimize the art that was being made in his country in his time. In Japan back then, you were an artist if you made nihonga paintings and wore a suit to your studio and made $100,000 a year—then you were approved. His brother is that kind of artist. Murakami wanted the otaku and the manga artists and the people who were being creative in that field to be acknowledged as artists, and in the West that was happening.
So he purely came to show with me here on so that he could launch himself in America, because the Japanese are always glomming onto what the West is doing and always trying to appropriate it and ultimately catch up culturally with the West. He knew that if the West embraced him, they would have to. So he came out with his first show with me and Blum and Poe in America, and he had his version of the St. Pauli Girl with her big bursting breasts and the cowboy and the splash paintings, and it was brilliant.

Why was that first show such an important statement?

Because if you took the sculptures away, the splash paintings were a perfect combination of Pop Minimalism, gestural abstraction, and Hokusai wave paintings—he was capturing 100 years of painting history in these paintings and then putting them in the context of these ridiculously over-the-top sculptures, which were meant to be a commentary on how in the same way that we have stereotypes about the Japanese, they also have stereotypes of us, that we’re all cowboys and St. Pauli Girls. Beer and boobs! [Laughs]
So he just handed it to the audience, and it worked. So that was the beginning, and then the strategic projects he did in Grand Central Station and Rockefeller Center and with Marc Jacobs were all part of a really considered plan. The nos and the yeses of what an artist does is a really important part of their trajectory, and he was like a military strategist.  

You also did fantastically well at auction yourself, when you sold Murakami’s My Lonesome Cowboy at Sotheby’s for $15.5 million in 2008, after he was poached by Gagosian, fetching five times his previous record.

Oh yeah, I did do great. I had a partner on that piece, and the timing was spectacular and Alex Rotter did an incredible deal. It was that culminating time in ’08—it was nuts. But I hadn’t represented Murakami for years and I had a partner who wanted out, so the timing was right. I have no qualms. I don’t feel sad. [Laughs]
full text:
https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/qa/marianne_boesky_interview-52268

Michael Shnayerson, May 28, 2019, artnet
quote:
“By now, Murakami had begun asking his dealers to underwrite production costs—not for Vuitton bags, but for much of the rest of his work. Blum and Poe knew that Murakami was no spendthrift. He slept in a converted crate in his office, just outside Tokyo, and worked every waking hour, making all design decisions, no matter how small.
The problem was his ambition: it was just so sweeping. They underwrote as much as they could, as did the artist’s other dealers, but when Murakami announced that his next project would be a 19-foot-high platinum and aluminum Buddha, his dealers balked. Boesky was pregnant in 2006, and Murakami, she recalled, didn’t like the timing of that at all. “You’re lactating, you can’t be my business partner,” she recalled him saying.”
more at:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/michael-shnayerson-boom-excerpt-1553674

---

In order to discuss another zone of these two art workers, it is important to know that they always relate to each other, Japan and the ‘Western art world’.
A typical, unnecessary, old-fashioned insularism, island‐nation mentality SHIMAGUNI-KONJO 島国根性 by Nara and Murakami.
For example, art worker MORIMURA Yasumasa 森村泰昌 vehemently counter-attacks Murakami’s “nationalistic manoeuvres”, which are wrong, misleading the existing, eclectic, vivid, highly sophisticated and successful local art scene.

See also the TOP 20 artists’ list from 2023:
日本の現代アーティスト・トップ 20 (2023年)
Contemporary artists from Japan, Top 20 (2023)
https://art-culture.world/articles/contemporary-artists-from-japan-top-20-2023-日本の現代アーティスト・トップ-20-2023年/

While Nara harbours a sense of gratitude towards Germany, Murakami practices a certain aggressiveness in his attitude towards non-Japanese countries, including Asian countries.
It is very important to understand that unlike me (coming from Berlin in the 80s with bi-sexual girlfriends), both have ZERO influence of feminism.

Even AIDA Makoto 会田誠 (Japan’s No.1 artist) consciously acts in the spirit of feminism.
Nota bene: AIDA is Japan’s No.1 ARTIST (and not an art worker).

In Nara and Murakami, on the contrary, there is an arrogant, subliminal basic frame of mind, a persistent underlying tone of discriminating behaviour.
This chauvinistic, equivocada attitude may result from a NON-feminist upbringing on the part of the parents or the influences of male, narrow-minded friends and non-existing, close (sexual) relationships with girls or women in their youth.
Both have influences from OTAKU within them, which defines the ‘outside world’ = the majority of people as PAMPI パンピー. Thus, the OTAKU intuitively discriminates against ordinary people because they seem to be too stupid to understand their (fetish) world.
Der Ton macht die Musik.
In this overall context, it’s okay to criticise in a “nonjudgmental” way the fact that Tim Blum, Jeff Poe, NARA Yoshitomo and MURAKAMI Takashi suggest or actually practice an underlying chauvinism.

I can state with a clear conscience that Nara and Murakami were the “cash cows” of the commercial art dealers Blum & Poe. Several million dollars were realized and the art scene in Los Angeles was refreshed along the way. I can also assume that Blum and Poe made a lot of money by skillfully buying and selling their real estate / properties.

The following problematic conclusions (unanswered questions) now arise in the context of the 30th anniversary. Mika Yoshitake said it was difficult to secure desired Murakami loans in their planning period of under a year. “We were trying to get works the gallery had shown in the past, but those owners had sold them.”
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/02/26/blum-gallery-japanese-contemporary-art-to-the-us

1. It shows Blum & Poe didn’t practice any support purchases at auctions for Nara and Murakami. Which is normally done by Gagosian, Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth.
2. It manifests the presumption that Blum & Poe willingly and predominantly sold to American art flippers.
3. In the local context, it also reveals that even these people sold their Murakami works: Paul Schimmel, Tim Blum, Jeff Poe and perhaps Mika Yoshitake?
4. Neither were business colleagues Boesky, Larry Gagosian, Perrotin or any U.S. collectors willing to lend Murakami works to Blum & Poe.

“You’re lactating, you can’t be my business partner”
「お前、授乳中なんだから、俺のビジネスパートナーにはなれない」
「そんなんじゃねえだろ！Fuck You!」

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1).
In April 2019, Murakami left Blum & Poe. The separation was already looming in December 2018. If I adopt the linguistic ductus of Jeff Poe, who describes his colleague as “that fucking Blum―that dumbshit from Japan” in 2020 (see above), then Murakami’s expulsion would be ‘pronounced’ as follows by Jeff: “Takashi, fuck ya, you’re fired.”
Naturally, Blum & Poe presented the sacking in an officially diplomatic manner. Murakami, who is already lying when he opens his mouth, kept his lips closed. On Instagram, Twitter/X and Facebook he didn’t say / write a single sentence about the expulsion, and hereby confirms and proves: MURAKAMI Takashi is a hypocrite.

Let’s read some quotes from April 2019:

Several sources told artnet News that Blum & Poe had been losing money with the artist’s practice for some time, though opinions differed about whether the artist himself or the gallery’s management was to blame.
“That’s why he started doing collaborations, like that with [fashion designer] Virgil Abloh, so that he could start selling again because the other stuff wasn’t moving,” one collector told artnet News.
…
An art advisor familiar with the Murakami market argued that galleries representing the artist bore responsibility for his shaky performance by releasing too much work over the years, some of which he described as “poorly edited and over-produced.”

Refer to, check:
米国ギャラリー Blum&Poeのアーティスト・リストから外された村上隆
Takashi Murakami Had Been Erased From American Gallery Blum & Poe’s Artists’ List
https://art-culture.world/articles/takashi-murakami-blum-poe-村上隆/

“You’re lactating, you can’t be my business partner”
「お前、授乳中なんだから、俺のビジネスパートナーにはなれない」
「そんなんじゃねえだろ！Fuck You!」

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold (2).
Shortly before their 30th anniversary as art dealers, co-partner Jeff Poe said goodbye. On TBF Podcast he publicly explained the reasons, see the link.
Losing his business partner just at this point of the celebration mood must have been a painful, sad experience for Tim Blum.

Blum (see above mentioned quote): ‘Perfect purity is possible if you turn your life into a line of poetry written with a splash of blood.’ The reference to Mishima is critical, and further interpretation of the line I will leave open.”

Jeff Poe, September 2023:
“People don’t sell art anymore, they place it.
You get a list, you throw out a pdf, fifteen people come back for the same fucking thing and then you just going through the list and you okay, well then who are gonna place this with?”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxXFgVEsbxx/

The summary of the interview with Jeff Poe was published as follows:

September 14, 2023
“All the rules are gone.” -Jeff Poe
In our new podcast episode (link in bio), Blum & Poe co-founder Jeff Poe discusses his recent decision to step back from the gallery, after 30 years helping put LA on the map as an art city.
Listen as Jeff gets candid about his experiences building @blumandpoe amidst the art world’s evolution from an insider’s club to an international corporate industry.
In this clip, Jeff describes how the art world has lost its old rules in the wake of that explosion, saying “Criticism is out the fucking door. Nobody gives a shit or reads. Artists have careers that last five months, six months. You’ve got the “Long Museum” (in China) selling at auction.”
Jeff also offers his advice on choosing a role in the art world, dealing with misbehaving artists, and keeping up with the competition in the art world’s new corporate era. Head to the link in our bio or search for The Baer Faxt wherever you get your podcasts to listen now. #TBFPodcast #TheBaerFaxt
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxLordUIO1f

“You’re lactating, you can’t be my business partner”
「お前、授乳中なんだから、俺のビジネスパートナーにはなれない」
「そんなんじゃねえだろ！Fuck You!」

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold (3).
The slow death together with a deceased French art worker Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita レオナール・嗣治・フジタ.
How can we understand the decision, the inner causalities in the profession of an art dealer specialising in contemporary art, when he has to sell paintings that are almost 100 years old at his art fair booth? And then by a War Criminal, namely Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, who discriminated against Jewish artists and Jewish art dealers?
Foujita, who purposely ignored that his Jewish friend Robert Desnos, who looked after, cared for Foujita’s wife Youki Foujita in Paris, was deported to a Nazi Concentration Camp and died there because he fought with the French Résistance.
An art dealer who wrongly declares, that the painting at his booth had been executed with oil.

See also:

2021年5月8日の認知症予防。「ロベール・デスノス、藤田嗣治、藤田ユキ、藤田君代。レジスタンス 対 戦争犯罪人。」
Dementia Prevention on 8th of May 2021. “Robert Desnos, Tsuguharu Foujita, Youki Foujita, Kimiyo Foujita. Résistance vs War Criminal.”
https://art-culture.world/articles/robert-desnos-tsuguharu-foujita-youki-foujita-kimiyo-foujita-resistance-vs-war-criminal/

“You’re lactating, you can’t be my business partner”
「お前、授乳中なんだから、俺のビジネスパートナーにはなれない」
「そんなんじゃねえだろ！Fuck You!」

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold (4).
The Art Newspaper from 26 February 2024, Mika Yoshitake about the relationship of Blum & Poe with American Art Flippers:
“Murakami has since parted ways with Blum, which could have played a role in his being glossed over by the show. The gallery might also be a victim of its own success, as Yoshitake says it was difficult to secure desired Murakami loans in their planning period of under a year. “We were trying to get works the gallery had shown in the past, but those owners had sold them.””
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/02/26/blum-gallery-japanese-contemporary-art-to-the-us

Blum should have asked me, as I have a whole bunch of Murakamis and Naras in my collection….

“You’re lactating, you can’t be my business partner”
「お前、授乳中なんだから、俺のビジネスパートナーにはなれない」
「そんなんじゃねえだろ！Fuck You!」

The Chronicle of a Death Foretold (5).
Celebrating “BLUM 30 years” @ BLUM gallery Tokyo on the 20th of January 2024.

Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood
January 20 – March 10, 2024
BLUM Gallery Tokyo
co-curated by Tim Blum and Mika Yoshitake
Opening reception: Saturday, January 20, 5–7pm
https://www.blum-gallery.com

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2S-tIkyMnk/?hl=en

We were very much looking forward to the “BLUM 30 years” reception party on a Saturday evening at posh Omotesando, Harajuku. We had bought new nice shoes, put cool clothes on, and at the Aoyama Flower Market cheerfully kauften wir schöne Blumen für Herrn Blum.

What a disappointment.

Tim Blum wasn’t there.
No Mika Yoshitake.
No Paul Schimmel.
No Mami Kataoka.
No Nanjo Fumio.
No Ashley, no Yanagi.
No Japanese curator.
No Nara or Murakami either.
No GIRI-NINJO 義理人情.

Compare Murakami’s statements proclaiming to the whole world:

1. Art world etiquette
2. A sense of honor
3. Learning the rules
Without the three things above, an artist cannot survive in the art world. I truly believe that this is what defines those who achieve success.

１、礼儀作法
２、仁義を守らせる
３、ルールの習得
そういうのが無きゃ、アートの世界じゃやっていけない。 これ、完全なる定義って思ってます。

From:
日本のアート界を駄目にした男？ 不幸な村上隆、、、
The Man Who Ruined The Japanese Art World? An Unhappy MURAKAMI Takashi…
https://art-culture.world/articles/takashi-murakami-kaikai-kiki-japanese-art-world/

NARA Yoshitomo 奈良美智 expressed his feeling on the spot with his new work:「そんなんじゃねえだろ！Fuck You!」

See:
Tokyo, 2024/1/21 奈良美智の新作「Fuck You!」 @ ブラム ギャラリー、東京
NARA Yoshitomo’s new work “Fuck You!” @ BLUM Gallery, Tokyo
https://art-culture.world/articles/yoshitomo-nara-fuck-you/

Listen carefully, I’m a civilised person in Tokyo, capisci.
The Chronicle of a Death Foretold, very much indeed.

Tokyo-Basel, 28th of August 2024
Mario A 亜 真里男