Murakami's Moment At The Brooklyn Museum

Now that we have all waded through the exhaustive coverage of the Louis Vuitton sponsored opening party for ©Murakami exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, anyone could be forgiven or thinking that the event was a great big Louis Vuitton boutique with a little art exhibition attached.
Lets get a few things out of the way. Those faux counterfeit vending carts we heard about were only set up for the opening party, so don't feel the urge to swing by the museum for a quick Vuitton fix. The much-talked-about Vuitton boutique inside the show is but a very tiny corner, and accessible only to those who have paid to visit the special exhibition. Murakami has called it "the heart" of the exhibition, and in many odd ways, it is. Interestingly, there is no sign or mention of the cashmere sweaters made in collaboration with French designer Lucien Pellat-Finet at around the same time as the handbag collaboration. Perhaps Vuitton as a sponsor banished all other designer labels from the premises.
There is, however, an entire exhibit to see aside from the merchandise, and it would be well worth visiting without a single handbag to purchase. We won't go into heavy detail about Takashi Murakami's work, but it is inspired in equal parts by traditional Japanese arts, manga and animé cartoons and commerce which all mix together to create a fascinating brew with meaning on many different levels for diverse audiences. It's an entertaining show, but if you care to look below the shiny surfaces, there are all sorts of hidden layers of meaning that can range from the humorous to the erotic to the downright disturbing. What seem like cute, animated children's cartoons reveal themselves to be about loss, war and isolation but also farting and pooping.
Like we said, there's a wide range there.
For those with no familiarity at all with Japanese pop culture, there are plenty of alarming aspects to the show, particularly its unique point of view regarding sexuality in many of the pieces. For that reason, despite the fact that the museum has special descriptions geared for young museumgoers, this may not be such a great show for kids. Much has been written about the large sculpture of a girl with streams of  milk emanating from her engorged breasts that create a jumprope. If that's not weird enough, few have mentioned her male companion who has made a lasso out of his own milky discharge. Together, they are enough to turn anyone into a stereotypical, giggling  Japanese schoolgirl, which is part of the point, but might be difficult to explain to a young visitor.
Murakami has created (with his workshop, it must be noted) special pieces tailored specifically to the museum's interior including wall coverings in camouflage which, upon closer inspection,  is formed by overlapping skull shapes.
Overall, it's a fascinating show, and even a bit draining, but even if you are lured there by accessories, you will now be able to place those colorful logo-print bags into a much richer context.
©Murakami at the Brooklyn  Museum runs through July 13^th