Arhat, an exhibition of new painting and sculpture by Takashi Murakami, will open at Blum & Poe Gallery in Culver City this Saturday, April 13. The opening reception -- free and open to the public, as always -- will run from 6 to 8 pm. The show runs until May 25.

This occasion will mark the artist's sixth solo exhibition with the gallery and his first major presentation in the United States since the 2007-2009 traveling survey titled © Murakami. Coinciding with this momentous exhibition will be the world premiere of Murakami's first live-action feature film, Jellyfish Eyes, presented with Film Independent at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Bing Theater on April 8, 2013. The film has been ten years in the making and utilizes both live-action and computer generated imagery (CGI) in a coming-of-age tale about a boy in contemporary Japan confronting its past and future, post-Fukushima.

Arhat, which derives its name from the ancient language of Sanskrit, translates to "a being who has achieved a state of enlightenment." The largest gallery will contain three imposingly scaled paintings measuring between eighteen and thirty-five feet in length, whose source imagery is drawn from an ancient tale of Buddhist monks confronting decay and death. Demonic monsters and decrepit monks in traditional robes and paraphernalia wander psychedelic landscapes. Standing tall and center amongst these large paintings will be a monumental new sculpture depicting a massive skull enveloped in flames, whose antecedents can be found in Buddhist statuary located in temples throughout Japan.

The gallery's second room will consist of a new suite of six-by-five foot paintings, combining the artist's optimistic and bright, smiling flower faces with his dark and brooding skull imagery. These paintings intermingle the handmade, silkscreened, and gestural techniques that have become a trademark of the artist. This gallery will also feature Murakami's first wall-mounted sculpture, portraying a constellation of cascading skulls overlapping and melding together in a highly crafted manner.

The third gallery will include a series of painted self-portraits featuring Murakami and his beloved dog "Pom." In the center of the gallery will be a third new sculpture made of highly polished stainless steel; a self-portrait of the artist with his dog, sleeping flat on their backs. This body of work furthers Murakami's investigation into his own image, most notably seen in the recent sculptures, Oval Buddha, 2008, several versions of Pom & Me, 2009, and Welcome to Murakami Ego, 2012.

Blum & Poe Gallery is located at 2727 S La Cienega Blvd.