Sotheby's London will unveil the line-up for Beyond Limits, its annual selling exhibition of monumental sculpture, to be staged within the historic grounds of the ancestral home of the Dukes of Devonshire at Chatsworth from 16th September to 30th October 2011. This magnificent location provides a unique opportunity for the presentation and sale of monumental sculpture. The juxtaposition of works by artists as diverse as René Magritte and Takashi Murakami makes this year’s show an exciting destination exhibition for collectors and visitors alike. In addition to works by Lynn Chadwick, Barry Flanagan and William Turnbull, Beyond Limits will showcase a dramatic new work by Damien Hirst and a series of sculptures created specifically for exhibition at Chatsworth by a range of contemporary artists.

It is not uncommon for people to react with awe to their first up-close encounter with a balloon from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But when Takashi Murakami saw his contributions to Thursday’s event, he bowed. Twice.

On Wednesday afternoon, on a stretch of West 81st Street in Manhattan where brightly colored, 30-foot-tall inflatable versions of his characters Kaikai and Kiki were wriggling and writhing underneath a huge net, Mr. Murakami, the Japanese pop artist, held a brief Shinto ceremony for purity and luck. He stood at a table where he poured out a glass of water and a glass of sake in front of two plates, one of white rice and one of sea salt. He gave two bows and clapped twice, then declared the ritual complete.

Kaikai, a childlike character in a rabbit costume, and Kiki, an impish figure with three eyes and two dangling fangs, were ready to greet the parade-watching public.

In an interview after the ceremony Mr. Murakami, his bushy hair tied in a knot, seemed exuberant. He said he was less concerned about whether Kaikai and Kiki — who do not promote any television cartoon shows or breakfast cereals, and are merely ambassadors of Mr. Murakami’s own playfully esoteric art — could hold their own in the Macy’s parade than about Thursday morning’s weather.

“I was thinking about sunshine,” Mr. Murakami said in his broken English. “Tomorrow the report is a little bit rainy. But I already talk with my feng shui master in Taiwan, and he already take care about that.”

Takashi Murakami’s new exhibit in Versailles has recently opened and runs until December 12th.  Judging by the following images this exhibition is definitely worth seeing in person if the opportunity arrises.

The juxtaposition of his modern contemporary work against the XVIII Century paintings is really striking.  

For more information about this show please visit the exhibition website.