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Takashi Murakami: Delving behind the smile
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Colorful character: Much like his artwork, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is known for his flamboyant persona. Murakami, the only international artist to feature at IdeaFest 2022, closed the creative industry festival on Nov. 27 at the Jakarta Convention Center. (Instagram/Takashi Murakami @takashipom) (Instagram/Courtesy of Takashi Murakami)
O
n his first-ever visit to Indonesia for IdeaFest 2022, global artist Takashi Murakami from Japan talked about his pursuit of more art, a life of purpose and a peaceful death.
“You always seem happy and cheerful. How do you stay [that way] even though work and life are hard?” singer-songwriter Hiroaki Kato asked Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami while hosting an IdeaFest 2022 “talk show” at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in Senayan.
Last year’s edition of IdeaFest was held in Jakarta from Nov. 24 to 27, with Murakami closing the event as its only featured international speaker.
“Good question,” the 60-year-old replied. “So, every morning, I want to [die by my own hand],” said Murakami, shocking the hundreds of people in the audience at the annual creative industry festival.
“Because art is trouble, and money is trouble,” he continued. “Like, always bankruptcy and bankruptcy!”
The audience broke into laughter. Many seemed to have picked up on the artist’s bleak mood, having been exposed to his funny personality and off-kilter sense of humor during the hour-long discussion. But it seemed Murakami was not joking this time.
“I want to [die by] suicide like the French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. He took that [assisted] suicide in Belgium when he was 92 years old,” he claimed.
