Ibiza takeover: Blum & Poe stage pop-up exhibition of Takashi Murakami’s recent work

The Los Angeles-based Blum & Poe gallery, which also has outposts in New York and Tokyo, is staging a pop-up in Ibiza. Taking place at the island’s Art Projects space, the exhibition is a multi-platform showcase of Takashi Murakami’s newest work. In addition to this, Lune Rouge Ibiza, Heart Ibiza and the Ibiza Gran Hotel will also be displaying selections of the Japanese artist’s recent work and more seminal oeuvre.

And why has Jeff Poe decided to ship 40 works – ranging from the artist’s archetypal tondo paintings to monumental sculptures – to the Balearic island? ’Guy Laliberté, a collector who lives there, reached out to us proposing a multi-platform project with Murakami,’ he explains. Laliberté, it should be added, is the founder of Cirque du Soleil and a keen fan of Murakami’s work –  his own holdings are also on view. ’Considering Murakami’s openness and generous aesthetic practice, this opportunity fitted perfectly.’ 

Blum & Poe’s temporary gallery space features new versions of the artist’s Flower Ball series, the faces of the painting – in a stark near-neon palette – now incorporating platinum leaf. Complementing those works is the artist’s 2015 gold leaf sculpture Dragon Heads – Gold, comprised of a cascade of skulls.

Lune Rouge Ibiza is the makeshift home of Murakami’s more monumental work, such as 69 Arhats Beneath the Bodhi Tree, 2013 – a ten foot wide acrylic, gold and platinum leaf piece depicting a plethora of mythical monsters and robed figures. That piece is flanked by two of the artist’s demonic sculptures.
 
Equally compelling and even more imposing is Oval Buddha, an 18 foot-high sculpture coated in aluminium and platinum leaf, on show at the Ibiza Gran Hotel. Finally, the artist’s 2013 live-action feature film Jellyfish Eyes will also be screened – a typically surreal sign-off to an already chimerical series.