Understanding - The Artist's Agony and Ecstacy
The Artist's Agony and Ecstacy print was released in 2017. There is a speech bubble written in Japanese above Murakami. We are providing you with a Japanese to English translation so you can understand the inner workings of Takashi Murakami's thought process.
So here is the rough translation:
Ah well, the story of mankind!！Always making the same old stupid mistakes. Every minute, every moment deluding themselves in the belief “This is right, this is just. This is the only way!” even though that’s not the case at all!
Then there’s the entity known as “Country”. Countries have always changed over history and many people have thrown their lives away fighting for a mere line on a map. Just as the saying goes “Countries may go crashing down in war, but the mountains still rise to the sky and the rivers run to the sea”, the world still goes on regardless of people’s hopes and expectations. We know that deep down in our hearts, but we still get dragged along by the highs and lows of the world around us.
Our lives are full of excitement, anger, and the cries of sadness and joy!
So, all of you around the world who are going to see this picture in the future, let me tell you that today is September 26th, 2012. Please take the time to look at what was happening in the world at the time this picture was produced. At present, we are not embroiled in any major wars. I’m free to produce my art without fear or constraint, so I want you to preserve that balance between peace and freedom in your life as much as humanly possible.
The act of discovering human possibility through art is something that only sentient human beings can do. So, I say “Long live art!”
Japanese text:
人の歴史というのは。。。だなぁ。。。
いつも愚かな犯ちを繰り返して。。。だなぁ。。。
その瞬間、そのしゅんかんは「これは正しい、正義だ！唯一絶対だ！」と錯覚しながらも信ずる訳なのだが。。。そんなことはないもんなんだなぁ。。。
「国」というフレーム。歴史上常に変化しその線引きのために多くの人々の命を賭けて闘うわけなんだけれども。「国破れて山河あり」という諺があるように世界は人の思惑とは関係なく在り続ける。それを頭ではわかっていながらも一喜一憂してしまい。
興奮し憤り泣いて叫んで。
さて未来の世界でこの絵をご覧になっている皆さん。本日は2012年9月26日です。ぜひともこの頃なにが起きてそして世界がどう動いていたかを調べてみて下さい。
今現在、私達は、大きな争いには直面しておらずこうして吞気に絵なんぞ描いておりますが、そうしたバランスを、人知を尽くして、保って欲しい。
人間の可能性を芸術の中に探り出そうとする行為は知的生命体にしか出来ない事です。
芸術万歳！
*Apologies in advance for our poor translation.