28 Facts About Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist.

Takashi Murakami was the founder and organizer of the biannual art fair Geisai.

Takashi Murakami attended Tokyo University of the Arts to acquire the drafting skills necessary to become an animator, but eventually majored in Nihonga, the 'traditional' style of Japanese painting that incorporates traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and subjects.

Takashi Murakami began developing his own pop icon, "Mr DOB," which would later develop into a form of self-portraiture, the first of several endlessly morphing and recurring motifs seen throughout his work.

In 1994, Takashi Murakami received a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council and participated in the PS1 International Studio Program in New York City for a year.

Takashi Murakami established a small studio, which, together with the Hiropon Factory in Japan, became the precursor to his company Kaikai Kiki.

In 2000, Takashi Murakami published his "Superflat" theory in the catalogue for a group exhibition of the same name that he curated for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Superflat served as a commentary on postwar Japanese society in which, Takashi Murakami argues, differences in social class and popular taste have 'flattened,' producing a culture with little distinction between 'high' and 'low'.

In 1996, Takashi Murakami launched the Hiropon Factory, his production workshop, in order to work on a larger scale and in a more diverse array of media.

In 2002, at the invitation of designer Marc Jacobs, Takashi Murakami began his long-lasting collaboration with the fashion brand Louis Vuitton.

Takashi Murakami began by contributing artwork which was used in the design of a series of handbags.

Takashi Murakami has collaborated with a wide range of creators and industries in Japan, a prominent example being the image characters he created for the press relations campaign of the major urban real estate development Roppongi Hills.

In May 2014, with Pharrell and Kz of livetune, Takashi Murakami created a music video for the remix of the Hatsune Miku song "Last Night, Good Night ".

Takashi Murakami's artwork was on Vans classic slip on, apparel and skateboard decks for an illuminated time and only in selected stores.

In 2018, Takashi Murakami collaborated with fashion designer Virgil Abloh on a series of artworks, bringing the fashion world to the art world but ultimately transcending both to create something more.

Takashi Murakami stated in a press release that the anime-style video, which was animated using motion capture technology, took eight months for him to create.

The late rapper Juice WRLD approached Takashi Murakami to do a project several weeks before his untimely death, as a result of which, the projected could never be completed.

The Takashi Murakami-designed artwork was carried over to merchandise to celebrate the release of his album.

In 2022, a collaboration between Sir Lewis Hamilton and Takashi Murakami was announced for Hamilton's '+44' fashion range.

Takashi Murakami designed Hamilton's helmet for that year's Suzuka Grand Prix.

In 2008, Takashi Murakami was named one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People", the only visual artist included.

In September 2010 Takashi Murakami became the third contemporary artist, and first Japanese, to exhibit at the Palace of Versailles in France, filling 15 rooms and the park with his sculptures, paintings, a decorative carpet, and lamps.

In February 2012, Takashi Murakami opened an exhibition in Doha, Qatar.

In 2019, Takashi Murakami was working on his own album of original folk songs, inspired by Japanese group Happy End.

Takashi Murakami's art encompasses a wide range of media and is generally described as superflat.

Takashi Murakami has expressed since early on a frustration with the lack of a reliable and sustainable art market in postwar Japan.

Takashi Murakami began in Saitama, Japan in Asaka City, and now has offices in Tokyo, Japan in the Moto-Azabu neighborhood and New York as well as affiliates in Berlin and Taiwan.

From 2002 until 2014, Takashi Murakami organized a unique direct-participatory art fair called Geisai.