Takashi Murakami & Virgil Abloh - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session New York Thursday, May 19, 2022 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • "More than anything, what I’ve learned up to this point is that Earth at any given time is populated by a certain number of hypercreatives, people who are on the planet solely to think and drive and output ideas. Like Kanye or Karl Lagerfeld, who exist for that sole reason, Takashi can think and process in a way that is not work. They exist to create, and it’s effortless."
    —Virgil Abloh

     Globally celebrated creative forces Virgil Abloh and Takashi Murakami teamed up in 2018 for passion project future history, first exhibited that year at Gagosian Gallery in London. Murakami and Abloh are serial collaborators: Abloh–the late fashion designer famed for his contributions to iconic brands including Louis Vuitton and OFF WHITE™ streetwear–and Murakami–the artist notable for his signature ‘super flat’ psychedelic paintings and sculptures– first met while working on the iconic album cover for Kanye West’s 2007 Graduation.

     
    Nearly a decade later, Abloh and Murakami combined their respective visual languages to create a suite of paintings and sculptures that highlight parallels in American street style and Japanese post-pop art. An excellent example from the future history project, Our Spot 1 emblazons the bold OFF WHITE™ arrows logo atop a sea of multi-colored skulls rendered in Murakami’s iconic caricature style. Our Spot 1 layers both visionaries’ trademark designs, underscoring the overlap of commercialism, contemporary culture, and high art.

    "The ingredient that is the most unique to this collaboration is the wave of the era that Virgil is riding now. The audience looking at our collaborative works in a museum 100 years from now will nostalgically look back to this time; I think these works will allow them to think about the shifts and transitions through the history of art."
    —Takashi Murakami

    • Provenance

      Gagosian, New York
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      London, Gagosian, Murakami & Abloh: future history, February 21–April 7, 2018

    • Literature

      Lexi Manatakis, “Virgil Abloh and Takashi Murakami’s new show is art for the future,” Dazed, February 13, 2018, online (illustrated)
      Sarah Hyde, “Virgil Abloh and Takashi Murakami Team Up in London,” Garage, February 21, 2018, online (illustrated)
      Bolaji Sosan, “Murakami & Virgil Abloh’s ‘Future History’ Exhibition Opens At Gagosian,” Social Life Chicago, February 25, 2018, online (illustrated)
      Eliza Jordan, “Takashi Murakami and Virgil Abloh Make Future History,” Whitewall, February 26, 2018, online (illustrated)

378

Our Spot 1

signed and dated ""VIRGIL" © 2018 Takashi 2018" on the overlap
acrylic on canvas mounted to aluminum frame
39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in. (100 x 100 cm)
Executed in 2018.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$150,000 - 250,000 

Sold for $239,400

Contact Specialist

Patrizia Koenig
Specialist, Head of Day Sale, Afternoon Session
+1 212 940 1279
pkoenig@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Afternoon Session

New York Auction 19 May 2022