CineVegas Film Festival 2008

Having previously exhibited only at Murakami’s currently touring mid-career retrospective © MURAKAMI, the work, entitled Planting the Seeds, will be shown on the Lake of Dreams, the unique outdoor waterfall venue at Wynn Las Vegas, with showings at 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

“Planting the Seeds is my first animated work, and is a short episode that I made as part of a full-length animated film. It was premiered at the ©MURAKAMI exhibition the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles last fall. It is a short piece, but is the result of 3 years in my animation studio in Tokyo. For me, animation is one of the important elements in my next stage as an artist,” stated Murakami.

An aspiring animation film director, Murakami made Planting the Seeds as the first episode of an animation series starring Kaikai and Kiki, characters who also appear in Murakami’s artworks. Kaikai and Kiki, also the name of Murakami’s international corporation, have contrasting personalities and abilities: one is a goody-two-shoes and the other a troublemaker. In this story, they are entrusted with a mission of national scale, and go on an adventure in outer space. Until now Planting the Seeds has been shown only at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Brooklyn Museum, where it received acclaim from critics. The 10-minute film is extraordinarily beautiful, encompassing a deep Japanese respect for nature and demonstrating Murakami’s dual influences of American Pop Art and classical Japanese art.

A limited number of general admission tickets for each showing are available for $25 per person, with views of the show from the upper patio above Daniel Boulud Brasserie. SW Steakhouse and Daniel Boulud Brasserie, the two restaurants overlooking the Lake of Dreams, are offering special dining packages, including a prix fixe menu and reserved patio seating for the shows. Seatings will be at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., with packages priced at $160 per person at SW Steakhouse, and $145 per person at Daniel Boulud Brassiere, including tax and tip. To purchase either of these dining packages, please call (702) 770-DINE. For general admission tickets, please call (888) 8VEGAS8.

Takashi Murakami is one of the most important contemporary artists working in the world today. He received his bachelor of fine arts, master of fine arts and doctoral degrees from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music. His work has been featured in major solo museum exhibitions across the world, and currently his work is in the collection of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Queensland Art Gallery; and Walker Art Center. A retrospective featuring Murakami’s work was just exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and opened at the Brooklyn Museum of Art on April 3. Murakami was also the first artist to engage in a historic collaboration with Louis Vuitton, creating a wide range of pieces.