Takashi Murakami (Japanese, b. 1962) is a contemporary artist working across painting, sculpture, film and, since 2021, NFT art.He holds a PhD in Nihonga, traditional Japanese painting, from Tokyo University of the Arts, and in 2000 published Superflat, a theory describing a continuity of flat, two-dimensional imagery running from historic Japanese art into modern anime and manga.,
Superflat also argues that Japanese society flattened the distinction between high and low culture after the Second World War, a claim Murakami has tied to his own position as an artist born in 1962, seventeen years after Japan's defeat in the war.He founded GEISAI, a Tokyo art fair built around small booths where young, largely unknown artists sell work directly to the public.After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, he shifted the focus of his work from the relationship between art and capitalism toward Japanese religious and historical themes.
For about twelve years Murakami collaborated with Louis Vuitton, work that at points was reported to generate roughly a tenth of the brand's revenue.A 2010 exhibition of his work at the Palace of Versailles drew controversy from conservative groups opposed to contemporary art in the historic setting.Murakami is also a collector: in 2016 the Yokohama Museum of Art exhibited around 1,100 pieces from his personal holdings of more than 5,000 objects, arranged according to Superflat's rejection of hierarchy between genres and eras.
Murakami entered NFT art in 2021, prompted by Beeple's high-profile sale at Christie's and by his own long-standing interest in the relationship between art and capitalism, a theme he has connected to earlier work by Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.In March 2021 he released Murakami.Flowers, a collection of 11,664 unique flower NFTs combining 108 backgrounds and colors, extending his long-running flower motif with the pixelated look of 1970s Japanese video games.,He also worked with RTFKT, the collectible brand acquired by Nike, to develop CLONEX, a 20,000-piece profile-picture collection of hybrid cyberpunk characters.
