Takashi Murakami's "The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg" Exhibit Gallery

A "Flowerball" against a wallpaper of Murakami's flowers

​There's a good chance at some point you've seen a work by Takashi Murakami. Perhaps his ubiquitous flowers? Or maybe a picture of My Lonesome Cowboy floating around online? Probably his cover for Kanye West's Graduation album in passing? No matter how you've seen some of his work, there's nothing quite like seeing the pieces for real, to really grasp the scale and detail behind his often brightly colored, cartoony, and occasionally unsettling works.

Kaikai and Kiki statues in front of "Jellyfish Eyes"

The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg is the name of this particular exhibit, a reference to a Japanese story that struck a chord with Murakami. Murakami here is the octopus, continually eating the legs of Japanese art and pop culture, to breathe new life into it and himself. Many of his works over his career are evident of this concept, from his modern takes on ancient ukiyo-e paintings to countless repetitions of his own paintings with slight variations each time.

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One of Murakami's Arhats paintings

The sheer size of some of his works are awe-inspiring, with some paintings easily 15 feet tall and 30 feet long, making Murakami a standout against his peers in that regard. His Arhat series is great at showing off his mastery of scale, with some of the pieces almost not fitting into the gallery. The easily tiled nature of some of this works also allows entire rooms to be engulfed by his designs, with many walls covered by wallpapers and glorified curtains covered in his flowers and his mascots Kaikai and Kiki. 

Tan Tan Bo Puking

While many who come to the exhibit might have seeing the Graduation Bear or the very NSFW My Lonesome Cowboy in person as their big draw, personally I was excited to see Tan Tan Bo Puking in person. Tan Tan Bo, a stand in for Murakami himself, shown ill and vomiting, a reflection of Murakami being sick himself some years ago. The colors are bold, the design more disturbing the more you look at it, the size so large that it's hard to take the whole piece in just standing in front of it. 

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Fort Worth is the last stop of the tour for this gallery, and I'm glad I got to catch it. I've long admired Murakami's works, and getting to see some in the flesh was quite enjoyable.

-Janette G

Check out our gallery of the exhibit below!
​WARNING: Some of the pieces are NSFW