• Takashi Murakami’s exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art blends traditional Japanese art with modern elements, appealing to all ages.
• Akron Children’s Hospital sponsors the exhibit, aligning with their focus on incorporating humanities into children’s development.
• The exhibit features a recreation of a Japanese temple, large-scale paintings, and interactive elements for children.
• The artwork explores historical events like the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The exhibit runs from May 25 to Sept. 7, with free general admission to the museum but requiring separate tickets for the Murakami exhibit.

The colorful works of artist Takashi Murakami speaks to children and children at heart.

So it was just a natural fit for Akron Children’s Hospital to be the title sponsor of the Japanese-born artist’s work at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Roderick Ingram, vice president of marketing and communications for Akron Children’s, said the hospital began expanding its services in Greater Cleveland within the last year with the opening of its Beachwood Health Center, Urgent Care and Outpatient Surgery Center and the Mayfield Heights Pediatrics office.

As the Akron-based hospital looks to expand its services up north, Ingram said, they are also looking at opportunities to partner with institutions like the Cleveland Museum of Art that attracts visitors from throughout the region and beyond.

“A child’s development during their first five years benefits heavily from exposure to the humanities,” he said. “Akron Children’s offers it through our own Emily Cooper Welty Expressive Therapy Center where we deliver holistic healing through creative arts, including imagery, storytelling, dance, music, drama, poetry and visual arts.”

Todd Mesek, chief marketing officer at the Cleveland Museum of Art, said this is a perfect fit.

Murakami artwork, he said, appeals to a wide audience with its blend of traditional Japanese art style with modern twists.

The artist, Mesek said, is well aware that children, too, view his works.

Many of the pieces included in the Cleveland exhibit have been purposefully installed lower to the floor so children can take in the breadth of the work.

If you look closely at many of the pieces of art, Mesek said, Murakami has included so-called Easter eggs of fun and silly things at the child’s eye level.

“This exhibit is for children and adults,” he said.

What’s in the Takashi Murakami exhibit at Cleveland Museum of Art?

The new “Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow” exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art is an immersive trip through traditional Japanese culture as it collides with modern more contemporary art.

The exhibit requires a special ticket. It begins in a full-scale re-creation of the Dream Hall from the Hōryūji Temple complex in Nara Prefecture, Japan, built in the museum’s large atrium.

Inside the darkened space are large soaring paintings by Murakami. 

Outside, guests can ring a traditional Japanese gong before taking an escalator to two more galleries filled with a variety of works by Murakami.

Many of the pieces on display in Cleveland explore three significant historic events including the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States during World War II; the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Murakami’s art mines global history to reimagine the present moment,” explained Emily Liebert, the museum’s Lauren Rich Fine Curator of Contemporary Art. “Visitors to this exhibition will encounter the Takashi Murakami that they know and love — with his emphasis on popular culture, vibrant design, and collaborations —a nd they will have an opportunity to connect that work with the historical precedents from which it takes inspiration throughout the Cleveland Museum of Art’s encyclopedic permanent collection.”

The artwork — from paintings to sculptures — range from the serious to whimsical to some encompassing entire walls of the exhibit spaces.

How to visit the Takashi Murakami exhibit at Cleveland Museum of Art

The “Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow” exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art opens to the public May 25 and runs through Sept. 7.

General admission at the museum at 11150 East Bvld. in Cleveland and its public galleries is free, but tickets and reservations are required to tour the Murakami exhibit.

Advance tickets are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors and $15 for college students and children ages 6 to 17. Children ages 5 and younger are free.

For more and to reserve a ticket, visit clevelandart.org.