Blue Velvet 2016

Takashi Murakami made this blue artwork, 'Blue Velvet', with his signature flower motif. Imagine him in the studio, maybe a little bit obsessed, arranging and rearranging these smiling flowers. They’re almost cartoonish, these flat planes of blue, with a hint of the psychedelic in the contrasting colours of their mouths and eyes. There's this tension between the flat, almost mechanical reproduction and the human touch that must have gone into it. You can see a definite dialogue with Warhol's pop art here, but Murakami takes it somewhere else, something a little darker, perhaps. It makes me think about the way artists build on each other's ideas, an ongoing conversation. This piece, with its repetitive imagery, reminds us that art is an invitation. The door is open for multiple readings.