This is TAKASHI MURAKAMI's "OVAL BUDDHA," a huge piece of sculpture on view at the indoor public sculpture garden at 590 Madison Avenue facing 56th Street. It weighs 6,613 lbs. and more than 18 1/2 feet tall, and was originally intended for exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Because it couldn't fit into the Brooklyn Museum, the sculpture was then taken to its present location in midtown Manhattan. The quirky steel and aluminum sculpture is covered with platinum leaf and "reflects the artist's evolving body, mind, and spirit and his continuing exploration of his cultural, national, religious, and artistic reality." Murakami is is a prolific contemporary Japanese artist who works in both fine arts media, such as painting, as well as digital and commercial media. He attempts to blur the boundaries between high and low art, and makes his art available to different kinds of items including limited edition Louis Vuitton handbags.

この金融恐慌で「アート・バブル／バブル・アート」も完全に終わりを告げるだろう。
結果として村上隆は、新自由主義経済と帝国の時代を象徴する作品群によって、
後世に名を残すだろう。その意味では、この十数年で最もコンテンポラリーな作家
だった。南無阿弥陀仏、チーン！　ということで、〈帝国〉のアートの次は、いよいよ、
「新たな反資本主義の表現者たち」の出番である。これでアート・シーンも少しは
変わるはずだ。