iArt Gallery of New South WalesThe Domain
Takashi Murakami: When the Mountain Is High, the Moon Rises Higher
Australia's first major Murakami retrospective, spanning three decades of his Superflat paintings, sculpture and installation.
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Preview: written before the show opened
Judgement Day is 25 metres long, made with thousands of silkscreens and crammed with references to Edo-period woodblock prints. It is the biggest of more than 150 works, most never shown in Australia, in Murakami's first exhibition here.
You start with Kaikai, Kiki and Mr. DOB, the cartoon characters he keeps bringing back, then move through seven galleries in Naala Badu. Two rooms are built as environments: a dark one around a hexagonal tower ringed by Kyoto's four guardian deities, and a room with gilded walls and floor. Down in The Tank, a five-metre smiling figure stands at the door of a new temple-like structure, a world premiere. The Tank was built to hold fuel for the navy; until July its job is a temple with a giant grinning doorman.
It is on only in Sydney. Adults pay $40 ($42 at weekends) until 4 December, then $5 more. Wednesday nights, 5pm to 10pm, are 2-for-1.
Look for
Judgement Day (2023)
Look for the longest wall: a 25-metre painting built from thousands of silkscreens and packed with motifs borrowed from Edo-period woodblock prints.
Hexagonal Double-Helix Tower (2024)
A column-like sculpture stands in a darkened room, surrounded by four large paintings of Kyoto's guardian deities: the dragon, tiger, phoenix and tortoise.
The golden room
Gilded walls and a gilded floor form the backdrop for opulent paintings and a golden sculpture drawing on five centuries of Japanese art.
The temple in The Tank
A five-metre smiling figure greets you at the entrance of a temple-inspired structure, designed with architects VUILD, that walks you through Murakami's life and work.
Murakami's Great Wave
His painted take on Hokusai's Under the wave off Kanagawa hangs with reworkings of Hiroshige and of van Gogh's copy of Hiroshige's Plum garden at Kameido.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- First-Timers
- Out-Of-Town Guests
- Teenagers
With kids
Under-12s go free and 12 to 17s pay $15. A family ticket (two adults, up to three youth) is $95.
Free in the same building
- 20th-century galleriesRefurbished 1972 wing galleries tracing Australian and international art across the 20th century, ground level to lower level 1.
- Grand CourtsThe historic ground-level courts display the collection from 15th-century European art through contemporary works in dialogue.
- Yiribana GalleryThe gallery's dedicated space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, its name meaning "this way" in Sydney language.
Also at Art Gallery of New South Wales
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- Takashi Murakami: When the Mountain Is High, the Moon Rises Higher©2020 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved
- Just Because: CAO YuCourtesy the artist and Galerie Urs Meile. Photo: Yang Hao
- Dana Claxton: HeaddressCourtesy of Artspace
- Hayley Millar Baker: No Spectacular SoulCourtesy of Artspace
- Art Gallery of New South WalesBidgee / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5 AU
- ArtspaceUser6499 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Hyde Park BarracksJ Bar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- State Library of New South WalesBidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Australian Museumwuppertaler / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0