MADSAKI Thinks "Perfect Art" Is Boring and Talks Relationship With Murakami

Just before the launch of his solo show with Galerie Perrotin in Paris, we caught up with MADSAKI at his Tokyo studio to get an exclusive look at his new works for "French Fries With Mayo." With his latest exhibition, the artist is once again displaying his signature defiant use of the paint medium to poke fun at the fine-art masters of Europe. Along with some original works, notable newly created haphazard artistic recreations draw from the recognizable works of Eugène Delacroix, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Édouard Manet and more. In our candid studio visit, MADSAKI points to how his nomadic childhood informed his view of art and how visits to museums of the world sparked his desire to reimagine "perfect art." The artist also talks about how moving to New Jersey at the age of six from Japan forced him to face his cultural identity in relation to his foreign surroundings. MADSAKI then offered some rare insight on how Instagram facilitated his chance meeting Takashi Murakami at a time where the art world just wasn't noticing him. Finishing off our studio visit, MADSAKI recalled his time at Parsons School of Art and Design laughing about how he has gained notoriety for the same visual style that he received flak for at the prestigious school.