Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts, an acclaimed French national museum in Paris has launched an art-installation by influential Japanese artist Mr., curated by Pharrell Williams in conjunction with Murikami’s Kai Kai Kiki and Perrotin, titled ‘Carte blanche to Mr. and Pharrell Williams: A Call To Action’.
On view until September 23, the installation was designed specifically for the museum’s fourth-floor rotunda and includes a set of new paintings and sculptures by Mr. The immersive environment imagined by Williams and Mr. is now populated with colourful childish figures, born from the meeting of the imagination of Mr. and the creative world of Williams, as stated on the exhibition event page.
In an online post announcing the exhibition, Perrotin described the works featured in the exhibition as, “… absurdist, thought-provoking installations, paintings and sculptures rendered in the style that Mr. has become known for. It will imagine children, some symbolically holding weapons, emerging in a world that has come to be because of today’s adults, ready to take on the future.”
The project began almost five years ago when Williams proposed this collaboration to Mr. who is one of his favourite artists. This was followed by multiple work sessions, remotely and at the studio, to arrive at this unpublished body of works.
Mr. provided further insight in a statement, “Amid the tension and crisis of uncertainty that we live in today, we need to believe in the hope that can be found in children, and take inspiration on the promise of their optimistic outlook and spirit. Kids have the power. With art, we start this dialogue in this way,”
Pharrell added to this sentiment, in a social media post promoting the exhibition, “This is a call to action. An artistic response to imagine a better planet. What kind of world do we want for our kids? Kids embodied hope. Kids show us the future.”