Takashi Murakami

A Neo-Pop pioneer, Takashi Murakami is often referred to as the Andy Warhol of Japan. Among the most influential artists and creative entrepreneurs at work today, he has charmed the world with his technicolour paintings featuring lovable mascots, such as his iconic smiling flowers. The originator of the Superflat art movement in the 2000s, which highlights the relationship between commerce and Contemporary art, like Warhol he openly engages with commercialism through his many collaborations with retail and fashion brands, alongside his merchandise company.

Born in Tokyo in 1962, Murakami studied a traditional style of Japanese painting known as Nihonga at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. Growing up, he was passionate about popular culture, computer games and American movies such as Star Wars, which all fed into his hybrid visual vocabulary. Recognising the similarities between the flat style of traditional Japanese painting and the aesthetics of manga, his practice became increasingly focussed on the two-dimensionality of image and form.

After graduating, in 1995 Murakami was featured in the exhibition TransCulture as a part of the Venice Biennale. His earlier paintings visibly draw on the characteristics of Japanese Nihonga painting while inserting cartoonish characters into the traditional backgrounds, creating a clash between the past and the present.