:: Spotlight on Takashi Murakami ::

Does the word “Superflat” mean anything to you? or Mr. DOB? Maybe Hiropon Factory? If none of this is familiar — welcome to the vast, enigmatic world of Takashi Murakami. Born in Tokyo in 1963 Murakami is often billed as the Japanese Warhol. With his roots initially in Nihonga — which is a merger of Western and Eastern styles dating back to 19th century — Murakami wound up entrenched into the world of otaku and became one of the first artist to make paintings from his own portfolio of digital clip art. This combination of art and computing led him to a pictorial style that dismisses the illusion of depth and perspective. This created Superflat — not to say this approach was revolutionary because Warhol’s paintings often read flat — but Murakami has a different perspective. Superflat captures today. The here and now. The digital billboards. The PDA’s The iPhone’s.

pic below is of “FlowerBall (in 3-D)”

She goes by the name of Miss Ko2 (Project ko2) .. how iconic!

But Superflat is more than that. Much more. It is an art movement consisting of part otaku culture, part Postmodernity Americanization, and another part Japanese post-war nationalism. Confusing to an average, casual art fan — but its implications resounds on many more levels. Think for example how Japanese typical landscapes actually are in contemporary films or comics — filled with 7-elevens, cell phones, McDonalds, etc.. they are all of American origin. But really… Superflat just is a world with no depth. No “camera-eye”. No perspective.

Murakami strives very hard to take marketization of his world into international territories which he has done increasingly since early 2001. His cross-contamination of anime/manga characters into museum galleries around the world opened up the discourse on modern Japanese culture and its historical connections to its past.