Japanese artist and (in our opinion) visionary Takashi Murakami hosted an impromptu “InstaMeet” earlier today at Upper House in Admiralty.
Photo: @takashipom
Fans of Murakami were only given a few hours’ notice after he shared an invitation with his 209,000 Instagram followers at around 2am today.
Photo: @marcelthoma
Those who were lucky enough to be free (or called in sick…) between 9am and 10am today flocked to the artist’s hotel suite, which had been filled with silver balloons spelling out his name. Fans who had flown in to Hong Kong from Japan and Korea for Art Basel were also in attendance, as was local stylist and fashion blogger Tina Leung.
Video: @tinaleung
By the looks of things, both Murakami and his admirers alike had an absolute whale of a time goofing around – excuse us while we sit at our desks, green with envy.
Murakami held an InstaMeet at the Gagosian in New York last year, which was attended by around 1,000 people.
Part of Murakami’s 500 Arhats exhibition. Photo: Annette Chan/Coconuts Media
The prolific contemporary artist has an extensive body of work spanning fine art painting and sculpture, to more “commercial” media like fashion, animation, and merchandise (including balloons and wallpaper, amongst others). His style borrows from traditional Japanese motifs and techniques, while adhering to his now trademark “psychedelic” and slightly maniacal, but “cute” aesthetic, and he is often credited with bringing contemporary Japanese art to the international fore.
His work is currently being displayed at Art Basel, where a certain actor by the name of Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted. Judging by this Instagram, it looks like Murakami can count ol’ Leo as one of his fans too (#Leoandthe500ArHATS):
Photo: @kongkaroon
Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to glumly flick through holiday snaps of Murakami-san’s brilliant 500 Arhats exhibition in Tokyo.
Got a tip? Send it to us at hongkong@coconuts.co
