Takashi Murakami
(村上 隆 Murakami Takashi, born February 1, 1962) is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts media (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial media (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts. He coined the term “superflat”, which describes both the aesthetic characteristics of the Japanese artistic tradition and the nature of post-war Japanese culture and society, and is also used for Murakami’s artistic style and other Japanese artists he has influenced.
Murakami is the founder and President of Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., through which he manages several younger artists. He was the founder and organizer of the biannual art fair Geisai.
Murakami’s art encompasses a wide range of media and is generally described as superflat. It has been noted for its use of color, incorporation of motifs from Japanese traditional and popular culture, flat/glossy surfaces, and content that could be described at once as “cute”, “psychedelic”, or “satirical”. Among his best known recurring motifs are smiling flowers, iconic characters, mushrooms, skulls, Buddhist iconography, and the sexual complexes of otaku culture. One of Murakami’s most famous pieces known as ‘Hiropon’ brings to light his love for otaku culture. The sculpture that was created in 2001 is said to show the “otaku culture and its strange, shocking sexuality in full force” and again like its counterpart ‘The Lonesome Cowboy’ semen rests floating around the female sculpture.
In addition to large paintings such as 727 (permanent collection Museum of Modern Art, New York) and Tan Tan Bo Puking – a.k.a. Gero Tan, he has also produced sculptures, balloons, ‘all-over’ wallpaper installations, animated works, prints, posters, and assorted merchandise.
On June 21, 2011, Google featured a doodle tagged as “First Day of Summer” which was created by Murakami. This was accompanied by a Winter Solstice doodle for the Southern Hemisphere.
■ Solo Exhibitions
2011 Solo Exhibition, Gagosian Gallery, London
2010 Solo Exhibition, Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Italy
■ Selected Group Exhibitions
2017–2018 Murakami by Murakami, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Feb 10 – May 5, 2017
The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Under the Radiation Falls, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver2019
Takashi Murakami: GYATEI², Gagosian, Los Angeles
2015–2016 The 500 Arhats, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
2014 Deconstruction & Postmodernism – Session I, DOP Foundation, Caracas, Venezuela
2013 Arhat, Blum & Poe, Culver City, California
Jelly Fish Eyes International Premiere: Anime Film, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
2012 Ego, ALRIWAQ Doha Exhibition Space, Qatar
2011 Beyond Limits, Chatsworth, England
Homage to Yves Klein, Galerie Perrotin, Paris
A History of Editions, Galerie Perrotin, Paris
2010 MURAKAMI VERSAILLES, Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France
2009 I Love Prints and So I Make Them, ARKI Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
I Love Prints and So I Make Them, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo
Takashi Murakami Paints Self Portraits, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris
©Murakami, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
2008 Davy Jone’s Tear, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, California
©Murakami, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
Prints, “My First Art Series”, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo
2007 ©Murakami, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
2006 The Pressure Point of Painting, Galerie Perrotin, Paris
2005 Opening of Gallery Extension, Galerie Perrotin, Paris
Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Pop Culture, Japan Society, New York
Outdoor Banner Installation, Public Art Fund, New York
2004 Funny Cuts, Stuttgart Museum of Art, Stuttgart, Germany
Takashi Murakami: Inochi, Blum & Poe Gallery, New York
2003 Superflat Monogram, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris
Superflat Monogram, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
Double Helix Reversal, Rockefeller Center, New York
2002 Kawaii, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris; Serpentine Gallery, London
2001 Wink, Grand Central Station, New York
Mushroom, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
KaiKai KiKi, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris
Summon monsters? open the door? heal? or die?, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo
Takashi Murakami: Made in Japan, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
2000 727 Blum & Poe Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Second mission Project KO2, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York
Kaikai Kiki: Superflat, Issey Miyake for Men, Tokyo
1999 DOB in the strange forest, Nagoya Parco Gallery, Japan
Patron, Marunuma Art Park Gallery, Japan
Second Mission PROJECT KO2, Hiropon Factory, Japan
Dob’s Adventures in Wonderland, Parco Gallery, Tokyo
The Meaning of the Nonsense of the Meaning, Center for Curatorial Studies Museum, Bart College, New York
Superflat, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
Love & DOB, Gallery KOTO, Okayama, Japan
1998 Hiropon Project KoKo_Pity Sakurako Jet Airplane Nos. 1-6, Feature Inc., New York
Back Beat : Super Flat, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
My Lonesome Cowboy, Blum & Poe Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Moreover, DOB raises his hand, Sagacho bis, Tokyo
1997 Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris
Blum & Poe Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Galerie Koto, Okayama, Japan
The Other Side of a Flash of Light, HAP Art Space, Hiroshima, Japan
1996 727, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
727, Aoi Gallery Osaka, Japan
Feature Inc., New York
Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York
Galerie Koto, Okayama, Japan
Konnichiwa, Mr. DOB, Kirin Art Plaza, Osaka, Japan
A Very Merry Unbirthday, To You, To Me!, Ginza Komatsu, Tokyo
1995 Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris
NIJI (Rainbow), Gallery Koto, Okayama, Japan
Crasy Z, SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo
Mr. Doomsday Balloon, Yngtingagatan 1, Stockholm, Suède
1994 Fujisan, Gallery Koto, Okayama, Japan
Which is tomorrow? – Fall in love -, SCAI The Bathhouse, Shiraishi Contemporary Art, Inc., Tokyo
Azami Kikyo, Ominaeshi, Gallery Aoi, Osaka, Japan
A Romantic Evening, Gallery Cellar, Nagoya, Japan
1989 Exhibition L’Espoir: Takashi Murakami, Galerie Ginza Surugadai, Tokyo
New Works, Café Tiens!, Tokyo
1991 Art Gallery at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo
Galerie Aoi, Osaka, Japan
One Night Exhibition, August 23 Röntgen Kunst Institut, Tokyo
I Am Against Being For It Galerie Aries, Tokyo
1993 A Very Merry Unbirthday!, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
Gallery Nasubi, Tokyo
A Romantic Evening, Gallery Cellar, Nagoya, Japan 1992
Wild Wild, Röntgen Kunst Institut, Tokyo
NICAF’92, Shirashi Contemporary Art Inc., Yokohama, Japan