5 May '08

Murakami & Murakami

It may be that "Murakami" is a common Japanese name, like Brown or Smith (though I've only met one Brown in my life, and two Smiths), and coincidence has nothing to do with the sudden entry of both these excellent artists into my life. Or it might be some sort of sign, which would be nice. It would mean the universe is actually paying attention.

Whatever the cause, fate-tinged or not, I've recently discovered both Takashi Murakami and Haruki Murakami. The former through a NYT article first published in 2003, which caught my attention because the reviewer called T. Murakami's work "visually ravishing...surrealistically hair-raising, which argues against dismissing it."

I'm not sure what the rationale is for dismissing any art, other than personal taste, but I didn't even look at T. Murakami's work after that article. I just knew I liked him. And I figured one day, somehow, his paintings would come to me.

Cut to this 2005 article, then to this 2008 feature, and I finally, finally saw T. Murakami's work. It was like recognizing a face from a recurring dream--more assumed than experienced, but still real. I'm not a big fan of anime and manga (I like the concept, but the application is almost always...I don't know, disappointing), yet T. Murakami distills the best of Japanese pop art into a colorful, saturated nightmare. It's like Bosch with a sense of humor. And a penchant for handbags.

The second Murakami (though chronologically he should be the first) is quickly becoming one of my favorite--oh, hell. He is one of my favorite writers. Haruki Murakami. Writer of novels and short stories, keeper of nostalgia and carrier of Kafka's torch. I tried to avoid using Kafka because citing influences never tells us as much as we'd like, other than performing marketing shorthand. So forget the Kafka reference and enjoy H. Murakami for what he is: A fine writer who combines surrealism with humanism better than anyone in the biz. No small feat, I assure you. Start with his recent collection, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. You'll like it. Even more than R.O.T.O.R..