Takashi Murakami x Versailles

When I see something covered over and over on different platforms and Twitter feeds, my typical reaction is to ignore it forever. This is why I didn't see the Arcade Fire video until a week after it launched; I guess the buzz just annoys me and I don't even want to bother. But this instance was too weird, and well, it appealed to two loves of mine: fine art and contemporary art.

Within 3 minutes, I saw this tweet:


This blog post:


And received this email:


It's almost like my noticeably fast adoration of the new Blonde Redhead album, except it's the Internet with Takashi Murakami having 22 pieces displayed all over Versailles.

TAKASHI MURAKAMI// Exposition Versailles from OFIVE.TV on Vimeo.

This is kind of AWESOME. I can't even imagine how this could have happened; I don't know a lot about the recent history of art being on display at Versailles (or even who is in charge of something like that), but over time I've noticed a sometimes-prickly divide between lovers of fine art and lovers of contemporary art. Especially since even though Takashi Murakami is most widely known for his happy, psychedelically-colored flowers (did you know he also created six little mascots for the Tokyo district Roppongi?), he has also made some pretty controversial stuff (maybe don't click on that link if your entire office has full view of your monitor, just saying. It's art, but it's definitely leaning more toward NSFW).


[from Flavorwire]

It's very disarming and delightful to see the imagery of bubbly creatures juxtaposed in front of Rigaud and Bernini works. If in the past you could only imagine these two guys hanging out…



…now you can see it for real. If you get over there by 12 December (or before the angry French protesters kill it, whichever comes first), that is.