Takashi Murakami, one of the most widely recognized names in contemporary art, receives a long-awaited critical consideration in an important volume. The first serious survey of Murakami’s work as a painter, Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg traces his career from training to his current studio practice. Through essays and illustrations—many previously unpublished—it explores the artist’s relationship to the tradition of Japanese painting and his facility instraddling high and low, ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, commercial and high art.

New texts address Murakami’s output in the context of postwar Japan, situating the artist in relation to folklore, traditional Japanese painting, the Tokyo art scene in the 1980s and 1990s, and the threat of nuclear annihilation. This richly illustrated volume also includes a detailed biography and exhibition history. Available in May 2017, TAKASHI MURAKAMI is a true essential for collectors and fans alike.

About the authors: Madeleine Grynsztejn is the Pritzker Director and Michael Darling is the James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Michael Dylan Foster is professor of East Asian languages and cultures at University of California, Davis. Chelsea Foxwell is assistant professor art history at the University of Chicago. Reuben Keehan is curator at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia. Akira Mizuta Lippit teaches film and literature at the University of Southern California, Dornsife College.

TAKASHI MURAKAMI: THE OCTOPUS EATS ITS OWN LEG

Edited by Michael Darling; Foreword by Madeleine Grynsztejn; Contributions by Michael Darling, Michael Dylan Foster, Chelsea Foxwell, Reuben Keehan, and Akira Mizuta

Hardcover / 288 pages / 200 color photographs / 10” x 11¼” $65.00 U.S. / $85.00 CAN / £45.00 U.K. ISBN: 978-0-8478-5911-5 / Skira Rizzoli, an imprint of Rizzoli New York / Release date: May 2017

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