Takashi Murakami

Gagosian Gallery, Britannia Street, London, June 27 – August 5, 2011

Having established himself pushing the logic of cheap thrills to their surreal conclusion, for his latest solo show Takashi Murakami has made another thrill so cheap it’s free. A two metre tall school girl perches on a low plinth, cheery for all the world despite her angular, massively oversized box-shaped head balancing on a triangular body. Visitors could take away a perforated paper sheet to assemble their own 15cm high Big Box Paper Ko2 (2011). I’d actually stumbled upon one of these little dolls previously, unaware of its origin; but then noticing that the flat-bottomed base included the detail of the girl’s underwear, I knew it was from the Murakami stables.