”Me and Kaikai and Kiki”, 2010, by Takashi Murakami (Japanese, b. 1962). Silkscreen; platinum leaf on paper; ed. 12/50. Asian Art Museum, Museum purchase, R2016.39.3. © Takashi Murakami. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.
‘Flower Power’ – Asian Art Museum, San Francisco From June 23 to October 1, 2017 the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco hosts ‘Flower Power’, an original exhibition of pan-Asian artworks that reveals the powerful language of flowers across times and cultures.]]>
Source: Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
The exhibition brings to light unexpected connections among gloriously gilded folding screens, modern-looking lacquers, rare porcelains, sumptuous textiles, and contemporary installations of live flowers and sensory-igniting multimedia. Drawn primarily from the museum’s renowned collection, dozens of masterpieces are displayed in a way that highlights their shared botanical bounty. Visitors to Flower Power will discover that for centuries humans have used flowers to communicate ideals from the refined to the revolutionary.
“Flower Power offers a unique take on the spirit of the Summer of Love and its connections to Asian artistic practices, past and present,” says Museum Director Jay Xu. “In addition to serving as an oasis of beauty during this lively anniversary year, our exhibition shows why artists return again and again to floral imagery to express themselves during times of social uncertainty and cultural change — a message that is more relevant now than ever before.”
“The anti-materialist and pacifist spirit of the Summer of Love was really a starting point for developing the exhibition,” says Flower Power curator Dany Chan. “Ultimately, we were guided in organizing Flower Power as much by the richness of the artworks as by the philosophy behind an ancient Chinese proverb: ‘If you have two pennies, spend one on a loaf and one on a flower. The bread will give you life and the flower a reason for living.’”
”Flower Power” also includes recent artworks by the exuberant maestro of smiling daisies Takashi Murakami and the digital collective teamLab.
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