Art Study 2

Planet 66, 2007
Takashi Murakami
Offset Lithograph on UV Paper

This piece is titled Planet 66 and is a part of Takashi Murakami’s recent collection. Its medium is offset lithograph on UV paper. There are 300 of these pieces made and each one is 27 inches by 27 inches. This piece is different from Murakami’s other works because it shows a scene rather than just figures. It looks very cartoon-like and the subjects look like they would fit into Pokemon very well. However, there are some similar features to his other artwork. There are no humans and it’s not realistic. You wouldn’t be able to see any of the characters in Murakami’s art walking around in real life. There are worldly aspects to this piece though, as it includes the sky, water, lightning/electricity, flowers and trees, clouds, and a building.

The array of colors in this piece are bright and vibrant and when combined with the cheerful expressions on the faces of the characters, happiness is spread throughout. This piece of art seems to portray the perfect, care-free world that everyone strives for. If everyone was this happy and nature was this clean and pure, than there would be no problems. The characters and colors make this piece seem as if it could be in children’s dreams. This piece has the affect to bring people back to their childhood and remember the fun times while watching cartoons and drawing imaginary creatures. It seems as if Murakami created this piece to share the reminiscence of childhood and to allow adults to go back to their roots and remember where they came from. It also gives the impression that Murakami himself was looking back on the carefree days of his youth and how he made a living doing what he loved.

Works Cited

Fineartgasm.com. 2008. 29 October 2008 http://www.fineartgasm.com/servlet/the-456/takashi-murakami-planet-66/Detail.

Images Cited

Hypebeast. New Takashi Murakami Prints. 24 January 2008. 29 October 2008 http://hypebeast.com/2008/01/new-takashi-murakami-prints/.