Takashi Murakami Art Prints

Takashi Murakami Art Prints

Born and raised in Tokyo, Takashi Murakami is an artist who works to produce and promote Asian styles of art. This Japanese artist has collaborated with a variety of contemporary art, music, and fashion celebrities, ranging from Louis Vuitton to Kanye West. He creates fine arts, such as paintings and sculptures, and he also produces commercial media such as clothing and decor.

A Murakami print can be identified easily because they all possess the same busy design, two dimensional appearance, and repetitive symbols. These are the main themes in Takashi Murakami's works:

• Florals: Flowers blossom in most Murakami prints, and they frequently have cartoon like smiley faces.
• Mr. DOB: This is Murakami's signature pop character who has a round face, wide grin, and two round ears. In some versions, Mr. DOB has a bowtie, arms, legs, or tentacles.
• Anime: Anime characters from Japan frequently show up inside of Takashi Murakami's works. These characters are frequently used to satirize otaku culture in Japan.
• Skulls: Skulls and other religious iconography are Murakami favorites. He likes to juxtapose these dark elements with more cartoonish designs.
• Mushrooms: Another example of the artist's psychedelic aesthetic is all the mushrooms that flourish within his work.

When shopping for Takashi Murakami artwork, you may notice that many are labeled Kiki, KaiKai, or KaiKai Kiki. This is Takashi Murakami's production studios and art gallery where he nurtures young Japanese talent. Much like Warhol's Factory, many prints to come from KaiKai are collaborative designs featuring multiple artists. Depending on which Kiki location the prints were created in, they may be labeled as New York, Los Angeles, or Japan.

Unlike traditional painters, Takashi Murakami often sells more than one copy of a work. However, this does not mean that there are limitless copies of any design. He frequently prints runs of no more than 300 copies and signs each one. You can often find a number on the back or corner of the print that tells you how many prints were made of that work.

Takashi Murakami uses the word "superflat" to describe his art. This term references the two-dimensional aesthetic found in most manga artwork and traditional Japanese prints. Its key elements are thick outlines around planes of color without any shading or color differentiation. He continues to use this style in his modern artwork because he wants to help create a signature Japanese style of art that does not focus on Western influence. The bold nature of Takashi Murakami's super flat items lets them be easily printed as posters.