My Lonesome Cowboy
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| My Lonesome Cowboy | |
|---|---|
| Artist | Takashi Murakami |
| Year | 1998 |
| Medium | Sculpture (oil and acrylic on fiberglass and iron) |
| Movement | Superflat |
| Dimensions | 288 cm × 117 cm × 90 cm (9.45 ft × 3.84 ft × 3.0 ft) |
My Lonesome Cowboy is a sculpture created in 1998 by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Produced during Murakami's so-called "bodily fluids" period, the 9.45 ft-tall (288 cm) statue depicts an anime-inspired figure ejaculating a large strand of semen. Like its companion piece Hiropon, My Lonesome Cowboy is an example of superflat art, an art movement founded by Murakami in the 1990s to criticize Japanese consumer culture. The sculpture is noted as among Murakami's most famous works.
| External image | |
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 Photographs of My Lonesome Cowboy at Sotheby's |
My Lonesome Cowboy is an 9.45-foot-tall (288 cm) sculpture depicting a smiling nude anime-inspired male figure with spiked hair. The figure's legs are spread, and he is gripping his large erect penis, which is ejaculating semen that circles around his body like a lasso.
Both My Lonesome Cowboy and its earlier companion piece Hiropon were produced during Murakami's so-called "bodily fluids" phase in the late 1990s, in which he depicted highly sexualized figures inspired by otaku culture.[1] The sculpture is evocative of shunga (a type of historic erotic ukiyo-e which often depicted figures with exaggerated genitalia)[1] and hentai (anime and manga pornography).[2] Murakami hired commercial manufacturers to produce the sculpture in order to maintain fidelity to its otaku source material.[2]
My Lonesome Cowboy is an example of superflat art, an art movement founded by Murakami in the 1990s to criticize Japanese consumer culture.[1] Its title is a dual reference: first to the 1968 Andy Warhol film Lonesome Cowboys, in regards to the pop art movement the film belonged to that was similarly influenced by consumer culture.[1] It additionally references the 1957 film Loving You, in which Elvis Presley performs the song "Lonesome Cowboy" in a pose that similarly emphasizes his thighs and pelvis.[3]