''Hiropon'' is a sculpture created in 1997 by Japanese artist

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts media (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts as well as co ae ...

. Produced during Murakami's so-called "bodily fluids" period, the 7.33 ft (223.5 cm) tall statue depicts an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

-inspired figure expelling streams of breast milk from her nipples. Like its companion piece '' My Lonesome Cowboy'', it is an example of

superflat Superflat is a postmodern art movement, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime. However, superflat doesn't have an explicit definition because Takashi Murakami does not want to limit the movement, but rather ...

art, an

art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defin ...

founded by Murakami in the 1990s to criticize Japanese consumer culture.

Description

''Hiropon'' is an approximately seven-foot tall sculpture depicting a nude

-inspired woman with exaggerated breasts and nipples wearing a bikini top. Her hands are clutching her nipples, which are expelling streams of

breast milk Breast milk (sometimes spelled as breastmilk) or mother's milk is milk produced by mammary glands located in the breast of a human female. Breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborns, containing fat, protein, carbohydrates ( lacto ...

that circle her body to join into a

skipping rope A skipping rope (British English) or jump rope (American English) is a tool used in the sport of skipping/jump rope where one or more participants jump over a rope swung so that it passes under their feet and over their heads. There are multi ...

-like shape. The sculpture is inspired by ''

otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in ''Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorativ ...

'' culture (enthusiasts, particularly of anime and manga) and

lolicon In Japanese popular culture, is a genre of fictional media in which young (or young-looking) girl characters appear in romantic or sexual contexts. The term, a portmanteau of the English phrase "Lolita complex", also refers to desire and a ...

(the fetishization of young-looking girls), Murakami has stated that he was an ''otaku'' as a teenager, and that ''Hiropon'' was influenced by fantasy and erotica elements in anime and manga. Like its companion piece '' My Lonesome Cowboy'', ''Hiropon'' is an example of

art, a movement so named because of flat imagery, a lack of perspective and absence of hierarchy. The sculpture is specifically intended as a critique of the culture of

post-occupation Japan Post-occupation Japan is the period in postwar Japanese history which started when the Allied occupation of Japan ended in 1952 and lasted to the end of the Showa era in 1989. Despite the massive devastation it suffered in the Second World War, ...

, with Murakami arguing that the country's secondary status to the United States led to an initialization of Japanese aesthetics and politics, "implod nginto fantasies of monsters and superheroes, galactic wars, cyborgs, and schoolgirls." The title of the sculpture references the Japanese term for

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

, with Murakami depicting ''otaku'' culture as a form of similarly illicit entertainment.

Casts

Murakami produced three casts plus one

artist's proof An artist's proof is an impression of a print taken in the printmaking process to see the current printing state of a plate while the plate (or stone, or woodblock) is being worked on by the artist. A proof may show a clearly incomplete image, ofte ...

of ''Hiropon'', with the hair color and bikini top of the figure differing in each of the casts. A cast of ''Hiropon'' sold at an auction in 2002 for

USD$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

427,500.

Reception

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' art critic

Roberta Smith Roberta Smith (born 1948) is co-chief art critic of ''The New York Times'' and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is the first woman to hold that position. Early life Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. Smith studied at ...

wrote that both ''Hiropon'' and ''My Lonesome Cowboy'' "mesmerize through an unsettling combination of innocence, carnal knowledge, beauty, exquisite artifice and arrested movement," noting ''Hiropon'' as "especially good" compared to the "simplistically macho" ''My Lonesome Cowboy''. She nonetheless assessed both pieces favorably, arguing "after their shock value has declined, as all shock value must, they are still interesting to look at," arguing that both pieces are more successful that the erotic sculptures of

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror- finish su ...

and

Allen Jones Allen Jones may refer to: *Allen Jones (Continental Congress) (1739–1798), Continental Congress delegate *Allen Jones (artist) (born 1937), British pop artist *Allen Jones (record producer) (1940–1987), American record producer *A.J. Styles (Al ...

. Art scholar Grace McQuilten is more critical of the piece, arguing that it "was not created as a critique of the way women are represented in ''otaku'' culture. Instead, it directly appeals to the market."

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , title=Takashi Murakami Artworks , url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/murakami-takashi/artworks/ , website=The Art Story , accessdate=26 September 2020 {{cite web , title=Hiropon , url=https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/takashi-murakami-b-1962-hiropon-3914610-details.aspx , website=

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

, accessdate=26 September 2020 {{cite journal , last1=McQuilten , first1=Grace , title=Takashi Murakami: The Meaning of the Nonsense of the Meaning , journal=Menlo Park , date=March 2013 , volume=1 , issue=1 , url=http://menlopark.ca/takashi-murakami-the-meaning-of-the-nonsense-of-the-meaning/ {{cite web , last1=Stout , first1=Kristie Lu , title=Takashi Murakami: Superflat and super awkward , url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/13/world/asia/talk-asia-murakami/index.html , website=

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, accessdate=26 September 2020 , date=13 January 2013 {{cite web , last1=Smith , first1=Roberta , title=Art in Review: Takashi Murakami , url=http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/05/arts/art-in-review-takashi-murakami.html , website=The New York Times , accessdate=26 September 2020 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403073633/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/05/arts/art-in-review-takashi-murakami.html , archivedate=3 April 2015 , date=5 February 1999 1997 sculptures Japanese contemporary art Pop art Sculptures of women Nude sculptures