wandrlust – discover the undiscovered

I have always had an issue with video art. Usually the artist at the helm of a piece of video art does not have the same strength within the medium that an actual filmmaker has, because of this, the piece, which generally requires me to sit down for a period of time in a museum, is lackluster and amateurish at best. One can only say the opposite for Inochi, a piece of video art by contemporary Japanese Pop-Artist (a style dubbed as Superflat), Takashi Murakami.

You may know his artwork from Kanye West’s newest album Graduation or Murakami’s most recent venture with Louis Vuitton (both of which are showcased at his retrospective currently at the MOCA — going insofar as having a Vuitton store within the exhibit.) but what you should know Murakami for is his sculpture and video work. Rarely does one have the pleasure of seeing a video so provocatively strange to the point of being borderline disturbing, while simultaneously being extremely hilarious, and remarkably well made. With out further ado, Inochi:

You are alive gets me every time. Inochi (his own website is still under construction), along with Anime characters shooting milk from one breast into the other and a naked woman transforming into a jet, are all on display at the MOCA until Febuary 11, 2008 and just to show you how helpful I am the MOCA is free every Thursday from 5-8 which really gives you no good excuse not to go.