DOB Totem Pole 2000

Takashi Murakami made DOB Totem Pole, using flat color and crisp lines. He's playing with Pop Art but adds a layer of something stranger, almost like a nervous energy. The surface is smooth, giving it a printed feel, but look closer and you can see subtle variations. Each character is stacked, with little lightning bolts connecting them. Focus on the middle character with the daisy – that one's got a wide, open mouth and one swirly eye, but holds the flower so gently, a strange mix of menace and sweetness. Murakami blends high and low, cute and scary, and it's this mix that makes his work so compelling. It's like Koons and Warhol, but with a hyper-contemporary twist. Ultimately, it’s a conversation about culture, anxiety, and the way we see the world, with no easy answers, just a lot of interesting questions.