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1. New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves

2. 6 New Venues for Los Angeles Holiday Parties

3. $4 Million MOCA Gala Breaks Fund-Raising Records

4. Us Weekly Takes to Voyeur With Scantily Clad Models, Burlesque Feel

5. American Music Awards Begin With Redesigned Arrivals, End With Downsized After-Party

6. Bouchon: Thomas Keller in Beverly Hills, With Indoor/Outdoor Dining, Private Room

7. MoMA Gets Suitably Whimsical and Macabre for Tim Burton Tribute

8. 8 Handy Gifts for Meeting Attendees

9. Masked Raconteurs Tell Tales at Moth Ball, and I Have a Blast

10. Mandarin Oriental: High-End Lodging With 12,000 Square Feet of Function Space

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FROM NEW YORK

Morgan Loft Penthouse: Temporary Venue for Holiday Season

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MoMA Gets Suitably Whimsical and Macabre for Tim Burton Tribute

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Ad Age Looks to Boost Conference Interaction With Beer Tasting, Lounge Seating

News Archive for Takashi Murakami

EVENT REPORT 11.01.07 6:51 PM

MOCA Fetes Murakami With Cartoonish Gala

Marc Jacobs with Murakami.
Photo: John Sciulli/Berliner Studio/BEImages

The Museum of Contemporary Art built its fall gala around one of the most accessible artists on the contemporary scene—Takashi Murakami, whose colorful bags for Louis Vuitton have spread his fame far beyond the art world. Not surprisingly, the weekend of events hailing the opening of his one-man show broke attendance records, with 8,000 fans of his playful, fetishistic work inspired by Japanese anime cramming the members’ evening at the Geffen Contemporary on Saturday. That meant MOCA's imaginative director of special events, Vanessa Gonzalez, working with Best Events' production team, had to accomplish a Herculean turnaround for the Murakami gala the following night.

More than 1,300 guests turned out for cocktails and nearly 1,000 stayed on for the seated dinner of tuna sashimi, seared beef rib eye with shiitake mushrooms, and banana spring rolls in coconut tapioca. As attendees picked up their dinner tickets, organizers handed them natural-leather card cases imprinted with a signature Murakami flower face, made by Vuitton as a souvenir of the evening. (Susan Loughry, Vuitton’s global events director, collaborated on the event.)

Museum supporters entered a cavernous black space, with walls and overhead spheres emblazoned with the artist’s colorful cartoons of skulls and eyes. Greeting guests was a silent chorus line of a dozen women dressed as Murakami’s recurring character Miss Ko2, sporting long champagne-blonde wigs and sequined bustiers designed by Lunna Menoh. Revelers sipped Belvedere white cosmos in black martini glasses and nibbled spicy-tuna sushi and chicken yakitori passed by Patina as Kanye West (another Murakami collaborator) performed a few songs. MORE >>

MOCA, Takashi Murakami, Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton

INFLUENCES 10.25.07 12:12 PM

MOCA Shows Off Murakami

Takashi Murakami's "Tan Tan Bo."
Photo: Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery/Kaikai Kiki Company Ltd.

In an exhibit opening Monday, the internationally acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is set to unveil more than 90 of his colorful, pop-culture-infused artworks in the vast 35,000 square feet of MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary exhibition space. Many of the artist’s salacious, anime-influenced sculptures—including an entirely new collection—will show in an immersive, theatrically lit environment inspired by the annual Wonder Festival comic market convention. Don’t miss the room showcasing all of Murakami’s mass-produced merchandise, including the iconic Louis Vuitton handbags and accessories he designed with Marc Jacobs. —Andi Teran

Takashi Murakami