In just 15 years Takashi Murakami has written his own chapter in contemporary art history.  His paintings, sculptures and installations reference Japanese cartoon-like characters, and question the blurred boundaries between East and West, past and present, and ultimately what differentiates high-art and pop culture. Murakami coined the monicker of his own artistic genre РSUPERFLAT Рafter an exhibition he curated in 2000 of the same name.
As a curator, he strives to introduce Japanese artists, animators, cartoonists and creatives from other discplines to an international audience. Bi-annually hosting GEISAI, an art festival Murakami established in 2001, he actively fosters and exposes emerging creative talent. Murakami also uses his own company Kaikai Kiki, a hugely successful art production and management company, as a platform to develop and promote the work of emerging artists, as well as his own projects.
In 2008 he was the only visual artist in¬†TIME Magazines’s list of 100 Influential People. Collaborations with Marc Jacobs expanded the LV logo into a colourful iconography, and Murakami¬†also worked with¬†Louis Vuitton – creating the first ‘designer’ QR code. Watch the LV campaign below, featuring Murakami’s SUPERFLAT monogram for LV in a anime-esque take on Alice in Wonderland.
With major exhibitions at many prestigious international galleries and museums, next week his show opens at the  Gagosian London Рmore on that HERE.
read more on KaiKai Kiki РHERE / on Takashi Murakami РHERE / or see more of his work HERE
Below is a SNAP submitted by an Assembly devotee Рa spectacular Takashai Murakami installation at Château de Versailles in 2010.
Takashi Murakami, Château de Versaillest © The SNAP Assembly / AMS pty ltd. all rights reserved
Images top of page © Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki co ltd. all rights reserved
