It can be easy to focus on the bright, pop side of Takashi Murakami’s production, even as his cute, anime-inspired characters sprout fangs. His current solo show on all three floors of Perrotin’s Lower East Side gallery continues to probe darker sides of life (a strain in his work that’s grown since Japan’s 2011 tsunami and earthquake) by engaging with select paintings by Francis Bacon. Here, Bacon’s famous painting of rival and friend Lucian Freud is springboard for Murakami’s own alternative characters – multi-eyed alien creatures that suggest humor and menace in equal measure. (On view through June 17th).
