Takashi Murakami

Famous for his signature flowers and celebrity collaborations, Takashi Murakami is one of the most important Japanese artists working today. In the mid-1990s Murakami coined the term ‘superflat’ to describe the distinctive treatment of space in contemporary Japanese art. He understands all art as two-dimensional and worthy of equal weight, whether music video, cartoon or painting. His complex, anime-inspired sculptures, paintings and prints aim to level the playing field between high and low culture.

Born in 1962, Murakami studied at Tokyo’s National University of Fine Arts and Music. His art is rooted in the history of Japan, and in particular the impact of the atomic bombs that destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima. ‘During my childhood, there were a lot of people around me who were damaged by the war and suffered from sicknesses caused by the atomic bomb,’ he explains. His art’s pictorial flattening relates to this devastation, and to the conceptual levelling of postmodern pop culture.

Murakami creates supercharged, cartoonish pictures using refined classical Japanese painting techniques. His motifs range from religious iconography and ancient woodcuts to commercial graphic design. The results are psychedelic and eccentric. Figurines and paintings depict goggle-eyed rabbits and smiling flowers. Installations featuring his famous avatar, Mr Dob, are childish paradises of kitsch delight. He has partnered with mega-brands such as Louis Vuitton, and made album art, music videos and clothing with Kanye West and Billie Eilish.

In 1996 Murakami founded the Hiropon Factory in Tokyo, inspired by Andy Warhol’s Factory. Now called Kaikai Kiki, it is a corporation that manufactures and distributes Murakami’s art. The establishment also fosters the work of other Japanese artists, including MADSAKI, Aya Takano and Murakami’s protegé MR.


Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

DOB in the Strange Forest (Blue DOB)

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

Wow, Kaikai Kiki

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

Oval Buddha Silver

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (JAPANESE, B. 1962)

When I Close My Eyes, I See Shangri-la

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

The Castle of Tin Tin

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

Flowerball Brown

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (JAPANESE, B. 1962)

Melting DOB: Complex Blue

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

Genome No. 10^7x2^122

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

In the Deep DOB-Yellow/Green/Pink/Acqua Blue/Purple

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

And Then, And Then And Then And Then And Then. Yellow Universe

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

New day: Kaikai and Kiki, Faces All-Over

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

New day DOB's Acrobatic Spectacular: Society

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

Thinking Matter (Red)

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

And then, and then and then and then and then

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

New day: Face of the Artist

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

Time Bokan - Pink

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

Homage to Francis Bacon (Study for Head of George Dyer (On Light Ground))

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

A Panda Family Against the Blue Sky

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

Kōrin: Tranquility

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

And then, and then and then and then and then

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

Jellyfish Eyes-Black 4

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

PO + KU Surrealism Mr. DOB - Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

Flower Ball (Brown)

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

Flowerball Pink

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

I open wide my eyes but see no scenery. I fix my gaze upon my heart.

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

Ensō: Exponentially Expanding Universe

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

Sphere Monogram (White)

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

Flower Ball (3-D) Red Cliff

Takashi Murakami (b. 1962)

And then, and then, and then, and then, and then / Kappa

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (NE EN 1962)

ACUPUNCTURE/FLOWERS (CHECKERS)

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

Me and Kaikai and Kiki

TAKASHI MURAKAMI (B. 1962)

Panda & Panda Cubs