Jellyfish Eyes – White 1 2004

Editor: This is Takashi Murakami's "Jellyfish Eyes - White 1" from 2004, done in acrylic paint. The first thing I notice is the sheer density of shapes, this overwhelming field of eyes. How should we interpret this composition? Curator: Note how the overall impact relies upon repetition and variation. Observe how each ‘eye’ functions as a unit, a module if you will, and through chromatic and proportional adjustments, the artist constructs a field that oscillates between order and chaos. Consider the interplay between the individual components and the gestalt. Editor: That’s interesting. So, you’re seeing it more in terms of its structure and less as, say, a commentary on surveillance or something like that? Curator: Precisely. We can discuss context later, but, formally speaking, the artist manipulates the semiotic potential of the ‘eye’—its inherent symbolic baggage—through changes to the signifier itself: color, size, placement. To what effect, though? Are we looking at dynamic play, a harmonic field? Or are there more significant tensions at work here? Editor: I guess the variations in color and size keep it from being totally monotonous. It's almost playful. I see that the eyes aren’t consistently spaced, which creates some visual rhythm across the white canvas. Curator: Indeed. Notice how this patterned ground establishes internal relationships and echoes across the surface through the careful adjustments of chromatic intensity, proportional variation, and perspectival play. Editor: I now recognize I was quick to read "eyes," rather than appreciating how the image creates rhythm and variation within defined boundaries of pattern. Curator: Analyzing this painting as a system has opened my own eyes to the tensions created by small but numerous adjustments within the artist’s visual vocabulary.