Prints by Takashi Murakami
Prints by Takashi Murakami
A lightning rod between different cultural valencies (high/low, ancient/modern, oriental/occidental), Takashi Murakami has stated that the artist is someone who understands the borders between worlds and who makes an effort to know them. With his distinctive “Superflat” style and ethos, which employs highly refined classical Japanese painting techniques to depict a super-charged mix of Pop, animé and otaku content within a flattened representational picture-plane, he moves freely within an ever-expanding field of aesthetic issues and cultural inspirations. Parallel to utopian and dystopian themes, he recollects and revitalizes narratives of transcendence and enlightenment, often involving outsider-savants. Mining religious and secular subjects favored by the so-called Japanese “eccentrics” or non-conformist artists of the Early Modern era commonly considered to be counterparts of the Western Romantic tradition, Murakami situates himself within their legacy of bold and lively individualism in a manner that is entirely his own and of his time.
Takashi Murakami is widely recognized for his ability to adapt the aesthetics of Japanese traditional art to operate within the context of popular culture.Murakami studied Japanese painting at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1986 and a Ph.D. in 1993. After completing his studies, he increasingly displayed his works in solo and group exhibitions, making his European debut in 1995 in “TransCulture,
” held at the 46th Venice Biennale. The following year Murakami’s paintings and sculptures were featured most notably at the second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery in Australia.


Takashi Murakami Exhibit
Murakami is also a curator, a cultural entrepreneur, and a critical observer of contemporary Japanese society. In 2000, he organized a paradigmatic exhibition of Japanese art titled “Superflat,” which traced the origins of contemporary Japanese visual pop culture in historical Japanese art. He has continued this work in subsequent impactful exhibitions such as “Coloriage,” (Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, (2002); and “Little Boy: The Art of Japan’s Exploding Subcultures,” Japan Society, New York (2005). In 2011, he organized the “New Day: Artists for Japan” international charity auction at Christie’s New York in response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Murakami currently lives and works in Tokyo.
Artwork

Glance Past the Future by Takashi Murakami x Virgil Abloh
Glance Past the Future by Takashi Murakami x Virgil Abloh

Enso: Memento Mori Red by Takashi Murakami
Enso: Memento Mori Red by Takashi Murakami

Enso: Zen, the Heaven by Takashi Murakami
Enso: Zen, the Heaven by Takashi Murakami

Time Camouflage Moss Green by Takashi Murakami
Time Camouflage Moss Green by Takashi Murakami

Bokan Camouflage Pink by Takashi Murakami
Bokan Camouflage Pink by Takashi Murakami

Poke! by Takashi Murakami
Poke! by Takashi Murakami

Guru Guru by Takashi Murakami
Guru Guru by Takashi Murakami

The Moon Over the Ruined Castle by Takashi Murakami
The Moon Over the Ruined Castle by Takashi Murakami

Blackbeard by Takashi Murakami
Blackbeard by Takashi Murakami

Melting DOB D by Takashi Murakami
Melting DOB D by Takashi Murakami

LV Camouflage Denim (Dark) by Takashi Murakami
LV Camouflage Denim (Dark) by Takashi Murakami

LV Camouflage Denim by Takashi Murakami
LV Camouflage Denim by Takashi Murakami
KaiKai Kiki by Takashi Murakami
KaiKai Kiki by Takashi Murakami

Champignon by Takashi Murakami
Champignon by Takashi Murakami

Para Kiti DOB by Takashi Murakami
Para Kiti DOB by Takashi Murakami

Skull Rock by Takashi Murakami
Skull Rock by Takashi Murakami

Reverse Double Helix by Takashi Murakami
Reverse Double Helix by Takashi Murakami

Like the Rivers Flow by Takashi Murakami
Like the Rivers Flow by Takashi Murakami

Flowers Blossoming in the world by Takashi Murakami
Flowers Blossoming in the world by Takashi Murakami

When Robbed of Four limbs…by Takashi Murakami
When Robbed of Four limbs…by Takashi Murakami

Posi Mushroom by Takashi Murakami
Posi Mushroom by Takashi Murakami

Melting DOB E by Takashi Murakami
Melting DOB E by Takashi Murakami

I Recall the time… by Takashi Murakami
I Recall the time… by Takashi Murakami

DOB & Me (Round Mound) by Takashi Murakami
DOB & Me (Round Mound) by Takashi Murakami
