Oval Buddha Silver

Takashi Murakami's Oval Buddha Silver depicts Oval, a character he created, on a lotus leaf. It is based on a 10th-century Buddha sculpture. This hybrid creature recalls Japanese anime characters. The lower level features an elephant, a symbol of demons in Buddhist tradition. Murakami probes the relationship between the classical and the contemporary with great technical rigour.

Oval is the result of an exchange with the designer Issey Miyake. Humpty Dumpty and the Japanese mythological creature Hyakume inspired him to create a universal character. Since the 1990s, Murakami, influenced by both Warhol and Japanese art history, has created works combining humour and gravity, past and present, East and West.

Oval Buddha Silver was first displayed by the Pinault Collection during the "Qui a peur des artistes ?" (“Who’s Afraid of Artists?”) show at the Palais des Arts in Dinard in 2009.