Calif. Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles Books

Takashi Murakami is one of contemporary art’s most innovative and important figures. Drawing from street culture, high art, and traditional Japanese painting, Murakami takes the contemporary art trend of mixing high and low to an unprecedented level (critics call him the new Warhol), producing original paintings and sculptures as well as mass-produced consumer objects such as toys, books, and most famously, a line of handbags for Louis Vuitton. A committed supporter and spokesperson for Japanese artists and a powerful commentator on postwar culture and society, Murakami has organized influential exhibitions of Japanese art as well as a biannual art fair in Tokyo. Murakami has positioned himself as a new type of artist for the twenty-first century: a hybrid of creator, entrepreneur, and cultural ambassador.In conjunction with the first major retrospective of his work, Murakami traces Murakami’s global impact socially, culturally, and art historically. Essays focus on Murakami’s early works, which were based on a social critique of Japan’s rampant consumerism; the development of his characters; his work with anime, fantasy; otaku culture; and his engagement with global pop culture. Representing output from original works of art to mass-produced multiples, the catalogue also considers the implications of Murakami’s working methods within the tradition of the Western avant-garde.

Examines the world's most significant architects and structures

Featuring the work of more than 150 exemplary international artists, this first comprehensive catalogue of the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, is published to accompany the museum's major 2008 permanent collection exhibition Collecting Collections . With short texts on each artist, as well as essays by Chief Curator Paul Schimmel and Senior Curator Ann Goldstein, it is a major milestone in the museum's publishing history. Featured artists include historical figures like Ad Reinhardt, Arshile Gorky, Franz Kline, Diane Arbus, Alberto Giacometti, Morris Louis, Mark Rothko, Garry Winogrand, Barnett Newman, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning and Piet Mondrian; contemporary Los Angeles artists like Doug Aitken, John Baldessari, Chris Burden, Vija Celmins, Mike Kelley, Catherine Opie, Nancy Rubins, Paul McCarthy, Lari Pittman, Diana Thater, James Welling, Laura Owens, Bill Owens, Charles Ray, Raymond Pettibon, Jason Rhoades and Edward Ruscha; New York artists like Vito Acconci, Robert Gober, Nan Goldin, Brice Marden, David Salle, Claes Oldenburg, Julian Schnabel, Cady Noland, Richard Prince, Kara Walker, Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman and Kiki Smith; and international artists like Francis Alÿs, Maurizio Cattelan, Thomas Demand, Rineke Dijkstra, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, Olafur Eliasson, Rodney Graham, Andreas Gursky, Mona Hatoum, William Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer, Chris Ofili, Gabriel Orozco, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Rirkrit Tiravanija. The title This Is Not To Be Looked At is derived from a work in the collection by John Baldessari, dated 1966-68, which reproduces an Artforum cover that features a Frank Stella painting also owned by MOCA, titled "Union III" from the Irregular Polygon series (1966).