Murakami angers traditionalists in France with Versailles installation

Angry mobs once ran Marie Antoinette and her family out of Versailles. Will they do the same to Japanese artist Takashi Murakami?

Cultural traditionalists in France are upset that the famed chateau will play host to an installation of Murakami's work, scheduled to run from September through December. Known for his brightly colored pop creations that pull from the worlds of anime, manga and cartoons, Murakami is a decidedly odd fit for the Baroque castle where French royalty resided during the 17th and 18th centuries.

A group called the Coordination Défense de Versailles has launched a petition that decries the decision to honor Murakami at the palace. The petition has so far gathered approximately 5,000 signatures. The group was behind a similar protest against an installation of Jeff Koons' artwork at Versailles in 2008.

Another petition site, Versailles Mon Amour, criticizes the Murakami event for its commercial angle and quotes the artist as saying that he wouldn't be able to show his work in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

The Murakami exhibition is being organized by Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the director of Versailles, who has told reporters that the attacks are coming from the far-right and conservative circles.

In 2007, the Murakami exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles was a major blockbuster show that proved a top draw for the institution. However, organizers also received criticism from the art world for including a Louis Vuitton boutique shop as part of the show. (Murakami is a frequent collaborator with the fashion label.) The exhibition later moved to the Brooklyn Museum.

The Versailles show of Murakami's work is part of an ongoing series that is intended to shake up the image of the tourist site and to draw new visitors. In addition to Murakami and Koons, the series has featured the work of French pop artist Xavier Veilhan.

-- David Ng

Upper photo: Takashi Murakami. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Lower photo: Jeff Koons' "Balloon Flower" at Versailles in 2008. Credit: Associated Press

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Comments

[James in SB]

I love that clash of the bubbly chartreuse sculpture with the traditional lines of Versailles. I'm sure these are the same "traditionalists" who saw the Louvre pyramid as an abomination and would have hated Van Gogh's work in 1890.

[phil]

Is that a Jeff Koon sculpture in the courtyard photo?

[RMills]

This work seems completely in sync with Versailles - a monument to the excesses of the French aristocracy. Murakami's work is collected by today's billionaires - those responsible for the current recession. It's art for the powerful and wealthy who made their money on the backs of working people. Where's the conflict? And where is Danton, the cart and the guillotine when we need them?

[The7Sticks]

This seems nothing more than a case of class warfare between the elite, effete snobs of the French art community and the hard-working artists of Japanese animation.

[william wray]

You guys should have contacted him for a image. Using the Koons shot is confusing.

[Donald Frazell]

RMills speaks for me this time.

art collegia delenda est

[rikinla]

Art is in the eye of the beholder, Some art is great because it attracts a lot of public, which museums and galleries love, because it is art they can relate to, as in the case of murakami, and I think MOCA loved it because its usual showing of "conceptual" art attracts a smaller audiences. To me, Murakami is not my cup of tea, it doesn't move or inspire me, but MOCA being broke they needed an infusion of cash. I get why people relate to pop art, its something they can embrace, they get it, no explanation necessary, its cute, its bright, colorful, and fun, just like the disney store, but with expensive handbags. Does it belong in Vesailles, probably not, I think in the history of art, Murakami will be another forgotten "gimmicky" artist, and will not survive the test of time, its just not deep enough, transcendant enough and pop art has been done by better decades ago Warhol, Lichtenstein, etc, and is now part of history. There isn't much original or groundbraking about Murakami's work, other then its Japanese and associated with expensive leather goods, though it does speak to the consumerism, unsophistication in art, and superficiality of our time.

[Liv]

I don't think his work fits the museum, I 've been there and I must say that there are other options that would fit it better, like Pompidou Museum for example

[Ratfink138]

Yawn... tell them to have some cheese with that wine.

[Hairy Carrion]

I agree about the Koons shot. Why not the sculptures in question? Oh I know why... that would be entirely too provocative and might even stir up controversy. Can't have that, now, can we?

[Donald Frazell]

Provocative, of what? Controversy, why? Contempt art is about irrelevancy, glorifying the "genius" of the individual, ZZZZZZZZZZ.
Guess what, outside of a small inbred sect of wannabe artistess and parytgoers, no one cares. Literally.
Its fine, doesnt say anything, and has nothing to do with the real world. So whats controversial? Only the egos of all those involved. zzzzzzzzzz.

Toys for the spoiled and decadent.
It is time to put aside childish things.

Save the Watts Towers, tear down the rotten Ivories.

[RABRUF]

Dear The7sticks,

Murakami is not a poor hard working artist of Japanese animation. He may be hard working, but he is not poor. Do not be mistaken.