INTERVIEW MAGAZINE
By Erica Bellman
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| Detail in "Arhat" (2012) from Murakami's Buddhism series |
CALIFORNIA---In the realm of
Takashi Murakami's latest artwork, the road to enlightenment—Buddhism's storied Eightfold Path—Murakami's "
Arhat," now at Blum & Poe gallery in Los Angeles [Ends May 25]. The figure of the arhat—the Sanskrit term for "one who has achieved enlightenment"—has been used to depict spiritual transcendence over suffering throughout the ages. Painter
Kamo Kazunobu's monumental scroll paintings depict 500 arhats in hell, and illustrate the painful aftermath the Japanese endured after an 1855 earthquake killed over 5,000 people. Echoing the Buddhist statuary found in the artist's native Japan, the monumental sculptures included in Arhat are among the show's most striking pieces. [
link]
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