The Broad is an amazing museum space with an awesome collection, what caught my eye here was the vibrant colorful, whimsically intriguing mural pieces by Takashi Murakami .
The pieces varied from paintings of skulls with traditional animals that are often represented in traditional Asian art like yaks, or koi. There were geisha or people dressed in tradition kimonos; it was somewhere between a Japanese version of Alice in Wonderland meets day of the dead anime.
There were statues that seemed to step right out of the life sized murals and played around the room.
Takashi Murakami, museum bio states,
“Celebrated for his colorful, popular culture- inspired works, Takashi Murakami is best considered a history painter and sculptor capable of bringing seemingly divergent Japanese traditions into dialogue. Murakami studied Nihonga, a thousand-year old Japanese painting convention and technique, which he combines with meditations on contemporary Japan, known for it’s anime and culture of bright colors, toys, and cartoons. By employing various styles, Murakami finds and creates parallels between ancient Japan and today. Though vibrant and poppy the surfaces of Murakami’s works often mask a deep seriousness, which, for the artist is a metaphor for Japanese culture as a whole.
The 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, followed by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, marked a turning point in Murakami’s work. The successive cataclysms seemed to cry out for Japan’s history to come to bear for a suffering people and Buddhist traditions and folk tales, long and interest for the artist, found expression again in expansive new work that focused directly on the aftermath of the disaster."
Worth a visit.
You are here
Takashi Murakami
06/21/2016 06:15 AM
#1
Takashi Murakami
Thank you for sharing. I think that my students would be extremely interested in the anime and the modern pieces! I have not been there yet, and I have heard friends who are non-educators enjoy their visit however, do you recommend taking students to this museum? Do you believe there enough connections to art and history that students can gain from a visit to the Broad? I would assume that this would be a great place for students, but I think it's always important to ask especially because I haven't been there nor any of my educator friends.
I enjoyed reading your museum resource
I've visited the Broad museum and absolutely love it! Personally, I felt that basically all the museum's exhibits were outstanding. The pop culture aspect of several of the exhibits will definitely interest the youth today.
I also find the exterior of the building absolutely beautiful!
The Murakami exhibit was of course amazing, esp that colossal piece on that one entire wall!
The Broad museum offers educational field trips. Their application window for student field trips is during a certain period. Their website should have details and/or inform you with who to contact for the specifics. I would highly recommend this museum to anyone, non educators, educators and people of all ages
Jtang- thank you for answering my question about taking students. I will be checking out the window for a possible visit. I would like to go on my own and explore before I go with my students. Now my interest has been sparked and I really want to see all of it. I checked out the website and I think I can definitely apply the information to my other content areas that are not just East Asia related. I will fill out the request with my principal now to see if we get approved for next fall.