Hiropon

Hiropon, a dynamic, life-size sculpture named after an amphetamine that was popular in post-war Japan, looks like a female manga character. Her childlike expression sharply contrasts with her hyper-sexualised naked body. She is surrounded by a ring of milk gushing out of her oversized breasts.

Taking inspiration from the conventions and motifs of Otaku, here Murakami explicitly tackles the sexual fantasies peddled by this important subculture in Japan. The sculpture, which goes hand in hand with its male counterpart, My Lonesone Cowboy, belongs to the artist's so-called body fluid phase, featuring archetypal, slender, dynamic female and male figures outside space and time.

Hiropon, like My Lonesone Cowboy, is in the Pinault Collection. They were shown together at the major group exhibition "Mapping the Studio" in 2009 at the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana in Venice.