Blum & Poe, Santa Monica
Marianne Boesky, New York
Los Angeles, MOCA, Super Flat, January 14 - May 6, 2001
Tokyo, Museum of Contemporary Art, Takashi Murakami: Summon Monsters? Open the Door? Heal? Destroy?, August 25 - November 4, 2001
Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, © Murakami, October 29, 2007 - February 11, 2008, then traveled to Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum of Art (April 4 - July 13, 2008), Frankfurt, Museum für Moderne Kunst (September 27, 2008 - January 4, 2009), Bilbao, Guggenheim Bilbao (February 16 - May 31, 2009)
Takashi Murakami: Summon Monsters? Open the Door? Heal? Destroy?, exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2001, n.p. (illustrated)
Brutus, September, 2001, p. 69 (illustrated)
© Murakami, exh. cat., The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2007, n.p. (illustrated)
Japanese • 1962
Takashi Murakami is best known for his contemporary combination of fine art and pop culture. He uses recognizable iconography like Mickey Mouse and cartoonish flowers and infuses it with Japanese culture. The result is a boldly colorful body of work that takes the shape of paintings, sculptures and animations.
In the 1990s, Murakami founded the Superflat movement in an attempt to expose the "shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture." The artist plays on the familiar aesthetic of mangas, Japanese-language comics, to render works that appear democratic and accessible, all the while denouncing the universality and unspecificity of consumer goods. True to form, Murakami has done collaborations with numerous brands and celebrities including Kanye West, Louis Vuitton, Pharrell Williams and Google.
View More Works