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Flower Ball

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Flower Ball

2002

Takashi Murakami

Japanese, born 1962

Murakami’s use of spatial recession creates the illusion of a three-dimensional flower ball. Each flower is painted in different colors, as if with its own feeling and expression. The center of the flowers resembles the smiley face emoji. Takashi Murakami, a celebrated Japanese contemporary artist, is best known for his colorful pop art.
Acrylic on canvas
Diameter: 98 1/2 in. (250.2 cm)
Gift of Richard and Elizabeth Hedreen
2016.24.1
Provenance: The artist; [Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France]; sold to private collection; [Sotheby’s, New York, May 12, 2004, lot no. 3]; purchased from auction by Richard and Elizabeth Hedreen, Seattle, Washington; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2016
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
location
Now on view at the Asian Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryParis, France, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Takashi Murakami, June 27 - Oct. 27, 2002 (London, England, Serpentine Gallery, Nov. 2002 - Jan. 2003). No cat. no., reproduced pp. 62-63, 65, 66-67 [detail] & 112.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, May 5 - Aug. 26, 2007.

Los Angeles, California, Museum of Contemporary Art, ©MURAKAMI, Oct. 28, 2007 - Feb. 11, 2008 (Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn Art Museum, Apr. 4 - July 13, 2008). [* work did not travel to subsequent two venues: Frankfurt and Bilbao.] Text by Paul Schimmel, et. al. No cat. no., p. 304, reproduced n.p.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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