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Murakami Art Comes At A High Price

Thu, May 15, 2008

Beyond Toys, designers

What’s the most you’ve ever spent for any designer statue? A hundred? Maybe a few hundred for a limited release? Chances are you haven’t come close to the record high for Takashi Murakami’s auction last night. The statue is a lifesize rendition of an anime guy (with mandatory spiky hair and doe-y eyes) shooting what appears to be the most intense man mess ever, and then telekinetically guiding it up into a lasso above his head. What’s even more shocking than the image, is how much it made last night at the Sotheby’s auction house. $15.2 million. That’s right. An eight figure price tag was paid on the phone from someone with way too much disposable income and a penchant for anime dudes with turgid members. Murakami showed up to Sotheby’s to watch the bidding chaos go down, and when asked by NY Mag what he thought he said “Oh, it’s not surprising.” How’s that for some confidence?

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This post was written by:

Nicolas Birondo - who has written 102 posts on ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected.

Pop culture writer, and a geek who grew up on The Black Hole, Krull, and Saturn 3. Obsessed with Transformers, Battle Beasts, and 100 Bullets. Trying to keep his kaiju purchases down to $100 a week. Couldn't name all 50 states and capitals, but could tell you the most efficient order to beat all Mega Man bosses. Don't let him in the sun. Don't get him wet. Don't feed him after midnight.

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2 Comments For This Post

  1. hana Says:
    May 16th, 2008 at 10:02 am

    I saw the Murakami show and I thought it was amazing. I saw this particular sculpture at the very end. I saw it from behing and thought: “Hmmm…what’s that white banner…oh wait..oh..OH!!”

    There was an accompanying sculpture with a woman titled “Milk.” I think you can probably imagine it.

  2. Nic Says:
    May 16th, 2008 at 10:54 am

    Yeah I saw a picture of Milk! Odd enough to see that stuff in print, but totally disturbing to see it as a life size sculpture

1 Trackbacks For This Post

  1. Murakami T-Shirt | ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected Says:
    June 25th, 2008 at 6:01 am

    [...] guy,” and others are complete fanatics. I don’t think I’d pay $2 million for this sculpture, but I like his work. After I see his show at MOCA, I’ve been in love with his Murakami [...]