Highly anticipated and only another few months to go, organiser of the Melbourne Art Fair had just announced that this important and successful biennale down under that attracted over 80 galleries and made a sales of $100 million in 2014 is now cancelled.

Chairperson of the non-profit Melbourne Art Foundation, Anna Pappas, cited that one of the reasons of this unfortunate announcement was due to the withdrawal of some of the high-profile galleries days before payment of the exhibition was due according to The Guardian reports. Pappas further elaborated that the organiser has no interest in becoming an affordable and mediocre art fair.

One of the withdrawn galleries voiced an opinion that the cost commitment was high, yet there were signs of good marketing and professional staff handling the fair. Another gallery had an interview with Art Asia Pacific, citing that the unofficial announcement that Sydney Contemporary run by the Art Fairs Australia (AFA) will be transforming the biannual art fair into an annual event in 2017 had influenced the decision. Adding insult to injury was that AFA had terminated its 20-year term contract with Melbourne Art Fair after 18 months.

万众期待的墨尔本艺术博览会，却在几个月之前宣布取消。主办单位指这项十分重要及成功的双年展，往年吸引80个画廊参加，并曾在2014年达到1亿澳元的营收。

非营利的墨尔本艺术基金会主席安娜·帕帕斯说，博览会取消的原因，是由于一些高知名度的画廊因《卫报》的报道，而在缴付展览费前几天决定退出。而帕帕斯进一步说，主办单位不想举办一场廉价平庸的艺术展，所以决定取消。

其中一个退出的画廊认为，即使有良好的营销和专业工作人员举办这场博览会，但仍嫌成本太昂贵。另一个退出的画廊接受亚太艺术组织采访时说，举办悉尼当代艺术展的澳大利亚艺博会协会 (AFA)，将在2017年把该双年展改成常年展的非正式消息传出后，影响了他们的决定。

雪上加霜的是，AFA在18个月后，终止了它与墨尔本艺博会长达20年的长期合同。

‘Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats’ exhibition marks the first large–scale Murakami exhibition in Japan in 14 years. Presented by Mori Art Museum, this amazing art exhibition is one show that should not be missed by anyone that has a heart for art. Born in 1962 in Tokyo, completed his doctoral work at Tokyo University in Fine Arts and selected by Time magazine’s ‘The 100 Most Influential People’ in 2008, Takashi Murakami is currently one of the most internationally acclaimed contemporary artists working today. Through his artistic career, the artist has cleverly connected the ‘otaku culture’, character iconography and Japanese art history against the backdrop of thematic landscape of post-war Japan. Hence developing the concept of ‘Superflat’, that has left his define mark in the contemporary art scene.

During this long awaited solo exhibition, Murakami presented one of the largest paintings ever produced in global art history – his 100-meter-long-painting, The 500 Arhats, showing off for the first time in Japan. Some other new works are also on exhibition in which the artist continues to amaze the public by exploring new challenges to the traditional Japanese art. This exhibition provides an important insight to Murakami’s art journey in terms of scale, energy and artistic accomplishment.

日本当代艺术家村上隆的500罗汉展览会是时隔14年后在日本首次大规模展出。这个在东京森美术馆举行的神奇展览会让拥有艺术心灵的人们都趋之若鹜。村上隆1962年出生于东京，在东京大学完成博士学位，并在2008年被《时代》杂志选为“100位最有影响力的人物”，直至目前保持着国际知名当代艺术家的身份。通过他的艺术生涯中，巧妙地连接了“御宅族文化”，包括以人物肖像，日本艺术历史与战后日本背景主题景观。而他创作的“超扁平”概念，也为他在当代艺术场景定义上取得重大印记。

在期待已久的个展上，村上隆最巨大的画作也缔造全球艺术历史记录—长达100米的画作 - 500罗汉，这是首次在日本展出。其他新作品也让观赏者通过探索发现日本传统艺术的新鲜挑战。展览会塑造想象洞悉力，观摩村上的艺术之旅、能源与艺术修养。