Takashi Murakami is back at the Paris gallery three years after his exhibition Learning the Magic of Painting. It’s the 14th solo exhibition by the artist at Perrotin, in Perrotin’s Salle de Bal at 60 rue de Turenne, a showroom usually closed to the public. There are around twenty works on view at the exhibition lasting until December 21, 2019, concurrent with Josh Sperling’s “So It Goes”.

The space is dedicated to Murakami’s signature character, Mr. DOB, who the artist first created in 1993.

The character of DOB follows Murakami in his existential questioning and has developed complex psychology to the point of becoming an avatar of the artist. In counterpoint to the portraits of Mr. DOB, the artist also created two humorous self-portraits in shaped canvas, rendering himself in caricature.

“Baka” also features sculptures of manga figures – illustrator Nishi e Da’s Devil Ko, who Takashi sculpted and affiliated with his previous life-sized hyper-sexualized manga sculptures, including Miss Ko2 (1997), Hiropon (1997), My Lonesome Cowboy (1998) and Nurse Ko2 (2011).

On the lower level, the visitor will discover another aspect of Murakami’s work inspired by traditional Japanese painting. Two large paintings, nearly 33 feet long, and three tondos represent fish in an aquatic world, rendered in monochromatic blue tones over a pale background. Exhibited for the first time in France, this recent series of Fish Paintings is inspired by an original motif painted on a vase dating from the Yuan dynasty in China (c. 1206-1368).

Check the images and visit Galerie Perrotin’s website for more info.