Murakami Octopus Eats It's Own Leg

By: Takashi Murakami for Vancouver Art Gallery

Year: 2018

Condition: 4

Size: 18' x 24' 

The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg, Takashi Murakami’s long awaited retrospective and his first solo exhibition in Canada, opens to the public at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Saturday (February 3), but the acclaimed Japanese artist was in town today (February 1) to hype up anticipation for the 55-plus-piece installation. Dressed in a glittering Technicolour suit splashed with swirling illustrations of tentacles, a plush hat fashioned in the shape of a cutesy octopus, and a pair of Virgil Abloh x Nike Air Jordan 1 high-tops recently gifted to him by the Off White founder, Murakami appeared with VAG senior curator Bruce Grenville during an exhibition preview this morning. There, councillor Andrea Reimer declared, on behalf of Mayor Gregor Robertson, February 1, 2018—coincidentally the artist’s 56th birthday—as Takashi Murakami Day in the City of Vancouver