My Grade 6 classes have been learning about the work of Takashi Murakami and went to visit the exhibition of his work, “The Octopus Eats its own Leg” at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Murakami is a fascinating artist who revisited his cultural roots after the 2011 earthquake that hit Japan. His super-flat style harks back to the work of Itō Jakuchū who was creating work in the Edo period (1603 – 1868). Murakami connects the flatness of his work to Japanese art as a whole and contrasts it with the western ideas of perspective and depth.

It was wonderful to see how excited the students were to experience the art ‘in the flesh’! Having researched Murakami for a couple of weeks,  they approached the exhibition well prepared and equipped some depth of knowledge. I felt so proud to see them all engrossed in the work and disappointed to leave after 90 minutes in the exhibition.

It can be tricky to balance appreciation of an artist and not to stifle a student’s creativity. (See #11 Classroom Creativity). At the exhibition, students sketched some of the arhats (enlightened Buddhist healers), but will move forward on their own creative journey.  Now that they have understood Murakami’s ideas of super-flat images, they are going to explore cultural symbols of their own and create their own super-flat collage.