The Lion of the Kingdom that Transcends Death – Takashi Murakami

1. Literal Analysis
- A creature lying down stomach flat on a bridge
- It is together with four smaller creatures
- A bridge is made of bones
- There are waterfalls
- (Everything is Cartoon)
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2. Formal Analysis

Line

- Mixture of Actual and Virtual single curved lines (line created by the skull bridge)
- parallelism lines present in the waves
- Waves show movement. Not much curve, so it is a “weak” current
- Verticality in the second background possibly to show linear perspective, front waves are
bigger/thicker than back waves
- Balance through the amount of waves
- The lion, being on the center, presents different strokes that separates itself from the
background and the other elements

Color

- Color is all over the place, it is a mixture of colors of various values and saturations, ranging
from softer pastel shades to intense and louder shades. I consider it as a unique style and is
indeed very contemporary.
- The achromatic elements, the white does a good job of separating the colors, gave it more
pop.
- The different elements however still has a predefined color (Majority is blue, orange etc.)
- complementary colors in the background, both warm and cool hues are present in a linear
and unorthodox pattern. Same hues were use in the foreground and background and is only
separated using saturation and intensity. And the appearance of all the other random colors
also help with this determination.
- Warmness and Coolness helped with defining perspective, lion being on a warm hue leans
toward us
- A lot of Parallelism is also present with color. Red and Blue
- The black dot on the top corner may give the subject emphasis through juxtaposition. But it
doesn’t work out for it still remains as a point of interest, It can be a way to compliment the
loud shades of red from the left side.
 Texture

- Texture in this painting is integral to identifying what is what

- Separated what needs separation, provides perspective
- Different textures from the background, smooth and rough/rugged
- The waves show clear water like texture
- The texture of the fur of the lion, two types
- The skulls created a ribbed texture

3. Contextual
- The painting is by Takashi murakami, Best known for blurring the lines between fine art and
commercial art.
- Murakami is also known for coining the term “superflat”, which explores the aesthetics
of Japanese artistic tradition against the nature of post-war Japan.
- blends imageries derived from commercial influences, anime, manga and traditional
Japanese styles and subjects. Which is present in this particular work
- This reveals themes and examinations into the past and present, East and West,
technology and fantasy. By engaging with dystopian themes and contemporary nuances
- Change the Rule! That opened on Sept 20. 2019 in Gagosian Hong Kong, exposes
concoctions of Murakami’s own imageries where each new combination in turn
generates new meanings.

4. Symbolic
- It is weird from the get go, captures murakami’s style
- Presence of a lion which is an already endangered species, in this dystopian and wretched
environment may signify the current state of nature and its creatures right now
- Different use of lines, and color on the lion, the emphasis on the subject may signify
isolation.
- The entire painting is a mess, contemporary, but the mess actually captures an emotion, the
presence of the skulls and the messy environment (the waves looking like sewer water) may
signify the feeling of a actual lion in the modern world of destroyed ecosystems and such
- On a deeper level, it might talk about the whole Idea of isolation/loneliness
- Murakami is experiencing problems at the point of painting his “Change the Rule” Galley
- He explained in an Instagram post the torment of an artist or the environment surrounding
artistic creation.
- He was also experiencing existentialism at this point, being afraid, not of death, but the
physical pain and mental suffering of approaching death.
- So this may be his image of an afterlife or alternate reality, but maybe he’s just referring to
his fear of death itself.