| Hiropon | |
|---|---|
| Artist | Takashi Murakami |
| Year | 1997 |
| Medium | Sculpture (oil and acrylic on fiberglass) |
| Movement | Superflat |
| Dimensions | 223.5 cm × 104 cm × 122 cm (7.33 ft × 3.41 ft × 4.00 ft) |
Hiropon is a sculpture created in 1997 by Japanese artistTakashi Murakami. Produced during Murakami's so-called "bodily fluids" period, the 7.33 ft (223.5 cm) tall statue depicts ananime-inspired figure expelling streams of breast milk from her nipples. Like its companion pieceMy Lonesome Cowboy, it is an example ofsuperflat art, anart movement founded by Murakami in the 1990s to criticize Japanese consumer culture.
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 Hiropon at Christie's |
Hiropon is an approximately seven-foot tall sculpture depicting a nudeanime-inspired woman with exaggerated breasts and nipples wearing a bikini top. Her hands are clutching her nipples, which are expelling streams ofbreast milk that circle her body to join into askipping rope-like shape. The sculpture is inspired byotaku culture (enthusiasts, particularly of anime and manga) andlolicon (the fetishization of young-looking girls),[1] Murakami has stated that he was anotaku as a teenager, and thatHiropon was influenced by fantasy and erotica elements in anime and manga.[2]
Like its companion pieceMy Lonesome Cowboy,Hiropon is an example ofsuperflat art, a movement so named because of flat imagery, a lack of perspective and absence of hierarchy.[3] The sculpture is specifically intended as a critique of the culture ofpost-occupation Japan, with Murakami arguing that the country's secondary status to the United States led to an infantilization of Japanese aesthetics and politics, "implod[ing] into fantasies of monsters and superheroes, galactic wars, cyborgs, and schoolgirls."[1] The title of the sculpture references the Japanese term formethamphetamine, with Murakami depictingotaku culture as a form of similarly illicit entertainment.[1]
Murakami produced threecasts plus oneartist's proof ofHiropon, with the hair color and bikini top of the figure differing in each of the casts.[4] A cast ofHiropon sold at an auction in 2002 forUSD$427,500.[2]
New York Times art criticRoberta Smith wrote that bothHiropon andMy Lonesome Cowboy "mesmerize through an unsettling combination of innocence, carnal knowledge, beauty, exquisite artifice and arrested movement,"[5] notingHiropon as "especially good" compared to the "simplistically macho"My Lonesome Cowboy. She nonetheless assessed both pieces favorably, arguing "after their shock value has declined, as all shock value must, they are still interesting to look at," arguing that both pieces are more successful than the erotic sculptures ofJeff Koons andAllen Jones.[5] Art scholar Grace McQuilten is more critical of the piece, arguing that it "was not created as a critique of the way women are represented inotaku culture. Instead, it directly appeals to the market."[6]
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