The round-eyed and long-lashed jellyfish eyes are one of the iconic Takashi Murakami motifs; the artist uses the eyes that resemble those of the charaters in Japanese comic books to mock the superficial culture of modern day.
Takashi has later produced the same-named film, setting the backgrond of which in the Japan after the 311 earthquake, in an attempt to look into the environmental issues.
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"When I had my debut and become famous, people saw my art as money game. So I created my art around the question,"What is capitalism?" I thought about it: art has always been linked to marketing. There was a time when I marketed my art and didn't get a good reaction. I couldn't play the game. It's the same thing now. Chinese art burst onto the scene. After that, there was the earthquake and the tsunami. Those natural disasters birthed in me a desire to understand spirituality. When I consider what art means to humanity, capitalism and money game can no longer be the main theme of my work. Even people who don't have a knowledge of art find me accessible. I feel I can share something with them. That has become the main theme of my work. Even in a global art context, it is a very local theme. [A Japanese audience] is not looking for an 'Oh, that was nice' experience. For example, when celebrities like AKB48 go to console the children[displaced by Fukushima], they cry, because they can no longer express normal emotions. They've had to internalize so much that when they no longer have to, all of their emotions come rushing out. When I think about how to communicate with children, I feel like now is not the time to express dark artistic concepts. Maybe when things get better [in Japan] I might start thinking about thoses concepts again. As an artist, I can heal people. Now, I feel art is just about healing."
- Takashi Murakami
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