Takashi Murakami Skate Decks

Takashi Murakami's limited-edition skate decks feature three upright cartoon characters: BunBu-Kun, Ponchi-Kun, and Shimon-Kun. As with Damien Hirst's skate decks in yesterday's post,  the edition size is unknown, so it is difficult to assess their rarity and hence their value. It's interesting that a number of contemporary artists have agreed to work in this medium, probably in the hopes of having their work reach younger individuals.

Takashi Murakami
 Shimon-Kun, BunBu-Kun

Takashi Murakami
 Ponchi-Kun

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962) 

BunBu-Kun; Ponchi-kun; Shimon-kun - set of three skate decks 

screenprint in colours, with acrylic, on plywood skate board decks, edition size unknown, published by the artist and Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd, Tokyo, each in excellent overall condition

806 x 197 x 38 mm. (overall) (3)

Price Realized 

£1,625
• ($2,670)
• Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits.

Estimate

£1,000 - £1,500
• ($1,667 - $2,501)

Sale Information

Sale 5866 Lot 195

Prints & Multiples

1 July 2009 

London, South Kensington

Special Notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Post-Lot Text

(c) 2007 Takashi Murakami Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=5220630&sid=02c1da3d-91f0-4f4f-9b4b-352d646c19ab

Here's another auction of a similar set of Murakami skate decks:

Takashi Murakami (Japanese, b. 1962) 

BunBu-Kun; Ponchi-Kun; Shimon-Kun - set of three Supreme skate decks 

screenprint in colours on plywood skate board decks 
31½ x 8 in. (80 x 20 cm.) (3)

Price Realized

£3,250
• ($5,171)
• Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits.

Estimate

£1,500 - £2,500
• ($2,375 - $3,958)

Sale Information

Sale 4606 Lot 697
Christie's Interiors 
29 February 2012 

London, South Kensington Post-Lot Text

© 2007 Takashi Murakami Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Auction listing added April 20, 2012

http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5535323

Note:  My earlier post on Takashi Murakami's Floweball Pink is here.

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Flowerball Pink

Here's another variation on Takashi Murakami's smiling flowers. Or should it be mocking flowers? There seems to be something mechanical about their laughter.

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962) 

Flowerball Pink
signed and dated Takashi 07 (on the reverse)
acrylic and platinum leaf on canvas mounted on board diameter: 39½in. (100.3cm.)
Executed in 2007

Estimate

£250,000 - £350,000
• ($394,500 - $552,300)
• Price Realized: £ 361,250
• 
  

Sale Information

Sale 8052 Lot 3
Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction 
14 February 2012 

London, King Street 

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/takashi-murakami-flowerball-pink/5533727/lot/lot_details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=5533727&sid=65515930-fc9b-4e08-9571-0f697e58d9be

Note:  My last post on Murakami's smiling flowers is here.

236

Open Your Hands Wide, Embrace Happiness!

I wouldn't call myself a fan of anime, but I do like Takashi Murakami's smiling flowers which seem vaguely reminiscent of Japanese cartoons. They do puzzle me a little bit, though. That title, "Open Your Hands Wide, Embrace Happiness!" sounds like a 1970's self-help book. These flowers have their origins in drawings Murakami made for prep school students learning how to draw flowers. I find myself searching warily for signs of irony, but I don't see any, just endlessly-repeated smiling flowers! Are they exultant, or are they mocking?

Sotheby's is selling this artwork in London on February 15. Their auction listing includes two figures with flowers, one traditional (by Ogata Korin) and one contemporary (by Jeff Koons), that have some bearing on the flowers that are such an essential part of Murakami's work. I personally think this work is better compared with the singing flowers in Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" (1951).

Takashi Murakami
Open Your Hands Wide, Embrace Happiness!

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2012/contemporary-art-evening-auction-l12020#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.L12020.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.L12020.html/6/ 

February 15, 2012:  Sold for $825,250 including buyer's premium.

Figure 1, Ogata Korin, Irises, c. 1700, Nezu Museum, Japan

Figure 2, Jeff Koons, Large Vase of Flowers, 1991

http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2012/contemporary-art-evening-auction-l12020#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.L12020.html+r.m=/en/ecat.lot.L12020.html/6/

The Garden of Live Flowers from Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" (1951)

http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alice2d.html

Sir John Tenniel, "Alice in the Garden of Live Flowers," from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1871.

Note:  Sir John Tenniel was last mentioned in my blog post on A Mad Tea Party, for some reason one of my most popular posts ever. I show how five different illustrators have handled Lewis Carroll's "A Mad Tea Party." Catch it here.

Has it really been four weeks since my last Disney post? What was I thinking? If you missed it, you can read it  here.

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