Takashi Murakami's use of intensely bright colors and his playful anime-influenced art toy with the seeming incongruousness of manga juxtaposed with traditional Japanese Nihonga technique. Murakami was born in 1962 and has emerged as one of the most influential Asian artists to rise to acclaim in the latter half of the 20th Century. His broadly-spanning body of work dances the lines between pop culture, fashion, design, animation and fine art, bridging eastern and western art and culture in his paintings, sculptures, and installations. "I express hopelessness," says the artist. His work follo … (read more)

Takashi Murakami's use of intensely bright colors and his playful anime-influenced art toy with the seeming incongruousness of manga juxtaposed with traditional Japanese Nihonga technique. Murakami was born in 1962 and has emerged as one of the most influential Asian artists to rise to acclaim in the latter half of the 20th Century. His broadly-spanning body of work dances the lines between pop culture, fashion, design, animation and fine art, bridging eastern and western art and culture in his paintings, sculptures, and installations. "I express hopelessness," says the artist. His work follows the origins of contemporary Japanese pop culture into its past, exploring its anthropological and societal underpinnings in history. In his most famous of his work and in rejection of traditional Nihonga, which the artist felt was less relevant to contemporary Japanese culture, Murakami brings together high and low culture, drawing from rampant mass market concepts to create coveted design objects, drawing from well-loved themes like Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty to identify with and appeal to a broad audience.

Takashi Murakami received his BFA, MFA and PhD from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He founded the Hiropan factory in Tokyo in 1996, which later evolved into Kaikai Kiki Co., a large-scale art production and art management corporation. In addition to the production and marketing of Murakami's work, Kaikai Kiki Co. functions as a supportive environment for the fostering of young Japanese artists. Murakami is also a curator, 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 to 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.

Murakami currently lives and works in Tokyo, New York, and Los Angeles.

Watch a video of Takashi Murakami discussing his exhibition at the Geffen Contemporary (MOCA):

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