Takashi Murakami - link between art and commerce

If you want to enrich your Christmas in whatever kind through art, through a work of art as a gift or through small, artistically manufactured accessories, you will inevitably be at some point in the border line between art and commercial kitsch .

Then many people ask themselves:

Buy or not buy? Welcome as a funny enrichment of everyday life or leave on the shelf as unbearable kitsch? ”

Probably the most popular example of the discussion that is regularly conducted as part of this demarcation, the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami for many “the most business artist since Warhol” .

Short biography - training and early years

Murakami was born in Tokyo on February 1, 1962, in this center of old and young Japanese art the artist went through the Traditional Japanese art education: He studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, the art college in Tokio, founded in 1887, one of the most recognized training centers for musicians and artists in Japan.

He learned in the Japanese tradition of master students, the content of his training was part of the study of Nihonga painting , a painting school geared towards the preservation of old Japanese painting.

The Nihonga School tried to maintain the traditional traditions by continuing natural depictions with self-touched original mineral colors, the depth representation was rejected by complex perspectives, representations of shadow throwing, modern oil colors and modern topics.

Yõga, Otaku, manga and anime

However, Murakami found the restrictions of this tradition -bound way of working as unbearable and inappropriate during his studies. The topic of his doctorate, with which he ended his studies in 1993, became the Japanese painting technology “Yõga” , which, with its orientation towards Western models, represented the exact contrast of the Nihonga (only today mixed Japanese artists of the two schools).

This choice did not remain the only teaching that Murakami pulled out of his classification of the "Nihonga" as a not more contemporary art form, he went much further: a little later he took his suggestions from Otaku culture , the new Japanese (sub) culture with manga and anime as the popular genera.

These inspirations seduced Murakami to numerous experiments in which he still artistically dealt with the colorful products of pop culture, and finally led him to his own art and to develop his own concept of art.

Superflat

He invented the style of the "Superflat" (Superflach), in which he treats the poppy motifs with comic -like, maybe a little nihonga will get through here if it dispenses with every shading and all hatching and only structured with flat, colorful colored areas.

Its paintings , objects, sculptures and designs refer to the Otaku subculture, whoever looks closely, realizes that the motifs are being meaningfully isolated or ironically placed in new relationships.

Superflat is supposed to indicate a lack of perspective and depth, not necessarily in a dimension, not for nothing, his book, in which “Superflat” is formulated as a philosophical theory about Japanese culture, the title “The Meaning of the Nonsense of the Meaning” .

Mass products, merchandise and hyper marketing

In 1996 the Hiropon Factory was created with the first approaches of mass production, replaced in 2001 by the Kaikai Kiki Company . This is a hypermodern company with well over 100 employees today, in which its contemporary Japanese art has been manufactured and marketed since then, in Tokyo and in New York.

By the way, Kaikai Kiki is called “elegant and bizarre” . The mass marketing of its shrill pop art works, usually with a suitable merchandise product, is expressly part of Murakami's artistic concept.

Murakami has consistently developed this economically oriented concept of art, now he merges pop and culture, art and commerce so diverse and imaginative that Warhol with his pop art and Damien Hirst with his diamond-occupied dead skull stands like real amateur.

Takashi Murakami with a new style: Neo pop or pop surrealism

However, if you look at the works of Murakami and dismiss it as a kitsch, or no longer classifies his masses sold millions of times as art, the art connoisseur thinks is wrong - Murakami receives international resonance with his art, his oeuvre is classified as “Neo Pop” or “Pop Surrealism” , he is compared with artificials such as Jeff Koons and Andy .

With his works, he has created a unique fusion of elements of pop culture and traditional Japanese art. He draws his inspiration from various sources, including Buddhist iconography , roll pictures from the 12th century as well as Zen painting and composition techniques from the 18th century of the EDO era. These diverse influences give Murakami's paintings a fascinating fusion of different styles and motifs.

The use of anime and manga elements in combination with traditional Japanese art creates an exciting contrast between modern mass cult and historical aesthetics. It is this mixture of apparently incompatible worlds that make Murakami's paintings so attractive.

Another characteristic of his work is a touch of expressionism . Through skilful use of colors and shapes, he succeeds in bringing emotions on canvas - be it joy or grief, hope or melancholy. This expressiveness gives his pictures a deep beyond the purely superficial. Murakami's artistic work can be seen as a reflection of his own personality.

Murakami was already able to show his colorful creations at many international exhibitions : In 2001, the Tokioer Museum of Contemporary Art was the solo exhibition "Summon Monsters? Open the Door? OR Die?" from the same year he was also seen the Museum of Fine Arts

This was followed by exhibitions in France and other places in the United States, in Germany (2008 Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt) and Spain (2009 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao).

The Mega Hype around Takashi Murakami's "Flower"

The multicolored flower motif from Takashi Murakami has left traces in the world of contemporary art, fashion, pop culture and beyond. The happy character was on albumcover from Kanye West, the chains of Kid Cudi, Drakes Hoodies and even on a work of art with Pharrell at Art Basel .

Since the first works of art of Murakami's flowers were launched in 1995, they have more and more conquered the fashion and design world. Ben Baller's jewelry, porter bags and a tourbillon watch all wear the now iconic smiling flowers, and his collaboration with Louis Vuitton, which was heavily based on the flowers, took almost two decades.

While prints of his iconic “Flowers” ​​were sold in masses and a painting could bring in millions at auctions, Murakami's flowers have also attracted great attention in the field of streetwear and luxury fashion .

Source of inspiration for the flower motif

The inspiration for Murakami's flower motif comes from his studies of traditional Japanese painting, especially the Nihonga. In doing so, he discovered the topic of "setSugsuka" , which means "snow, moon, flowers".

Murakami tried to paint flowers in this tradition, but instead the motif of the Murakami flowers, each with 50 flowers, was created on a stem. Although the flowers look bizarre and innocent, they have a darker meaning.

According to Murakami, they symbolize oppressed feelings and collective trauma of the Japanese locals after the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

In an animated video for Eilish (see below), this violence is presented, especially the decimation of the flowers manifests the dark concept.

More iconic designs for pop culture and consumption

The marketing gifted artist became known to the wide audience through completely different actions: he designed album cover for Kanye West , a famous American rapper, designs for the pocket manufacturer Louis Vuitton and sells many small colorful products through several sales channels.

Vuitton designs in particular went through the media, since then raged discussion, and the artist is happy and makes the museum shop the focus of an exhibition.

The amusing thing about it: The cheeky he claims that merchandising is not a by -product of art, but the art itself, the eager to follow him and suddenly also believe that his mass -produced cheap products (plush cushions in flower shape, manganity and colorful buttons) are also to be regarded as art.

In 2015, the artist started a collaboration with Vans , in which the figure was shown on limited graphics T-shirts and skate decks for the brand, as well as on a variant of the classic slip-on from Vans. In 2018, Murakami merged with Virgil Abloh to organize international exhibitions in which paintings, sculptures, T-shirts, prints and a Murakami leather shopping bag were presented.

The bag was printed with the flowers and Abloh's characteristic writing in the screen printing process. In 2019, the flowers were decorated in a partnership with ready made on shorts and pillows made of military woolx style. In the same year, Murakami also started working with the MoMA , in which a few plush cushions worth 150 USD were offered.

Murakamis Flowers also received support from well -known musicians. In addition to the iconic visuals for Kanye West's album graduation from 2007 and the upcoming animated television show Kids See Ghosts with West and Kid Cudi, Murakami's flowers also stood in the spotlight of an OVO in 2018. The flower motif was combined with the ovo Üle.

Murakami also published a merchandise cooperation with Billie Eilish for Uniqlo , which contained the flowers and visuals from the music video for "You Should See me in a crown" from 2019, which directed the artist himself.

The blurry boundaries between high art, craft, kitsch and commerce

It is certainly worth considering the Japanese attitude that is shimmering through that crafts and high art are not always as strictly separated as we are arranged or assumed. It is also encouraging that Murakami wants to make this attitude known globally.

But one can certainly ask whether it is welcome and appropriate if Murakami now wants to extend this “non -separation” to every artistic merchandis product. Because an inappropriate and dictatorial separation between craft and art or high art is one thing; Every product design and every pillow and every pocket that originated from an artist brain and every work that accompany a work of art as a merchandise product as an art is something completely different.

It will probably remain the conclusion of a look at Murakami's art that art and handicrafts and kitsch cannot be clearly differentiated, which in turn gives them freedom to simply buy what they like. You may also reserve the right to classify all dolls, pillows, bags, towels, key rings, stickers and printed footballs with Murakami design as art.

Before Christmas, it could be funny and exciting to give away a supposed kitsch object that only turns out to be a controversial art object afterwards, according to the motto: art is what is fun!

You get the start of a video series for this extraordinary Japanese Neo Pop artist in the following short video:

Takashi Murakami is probably Japan's most successful contemporary artist and at the same time a lucrative investment in the art world. The prices for his works have increased 20 times in less than ten years.

Takashi Murakami today

Takashi Murakami is not only an outstanding artist, but also a versatile personality. In addition to his impressive artistic work, he takes on numerous other roles and activities that illustrate his commitment to art in various areas.

As a curator of exhibitions, Murakami is committed to promoting other artists and offering them a platform to make their works accessible to a wide audience. With a lot of passion, he brings together various works of art and creates inspiring exhibition concepts.

In addition, Takashi Murakami appears as a speaker and divides his thoughts on art with other people. His clear words and profound views keep the audience amazed and steel for thought. also active an event coordinator

He organizes art -related events such as vernissages or gallery openings, in which like -minded people can meet in order to jointly discover the variety of art world. In addition to these tasks, Takashi Murakami even has his own radio show . As a moderator, he gives insights into his creative process and current trends in the field of contemporary art.

He not only gives the listeners information, but also manages to inspire them for the fascinating world of art through his charming way. Furthermore, Takashi Murakami is involved as a press carter and commented on current topics and developments in the art world.

Many are valued by many because he has extensive knowledge and always argues well. As a sponsor of young artists, Murakami supports talented young artists in promoting their career. He gives you tips and advice on how you can make your works known and often enables you to take part in your own projects.

Through his commitment, he contributes significantly to the further development of the art scene.

In addition to these different roles, Takashi Murakami is also successful a businessman His company Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., which acts internationally, reflects his striving to expand the creative influence of art into different areas.

It is not just about the production of merchandising products or the production of animated films, but also about design for renowned companies such as its famous cooperation with Louis Vuitton.

Despite all his successes, Takashi Murakami remains innovative and open -minded for new possibilities of artistic forms of expression. So he finally even entered the world of the NFTS (non-fungable tokens) , which underlines its persistent creativity.

The artist is also very active @takashipom

With this step, he once again shows his courage to change and endeavor to new forms of artistic work.

Takashi Murakami's works have already been exhibited in renowned institutions worldwide. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo are just a few examples of the international galleries and museums that have presented its works of art. These exhibitions testify to the recognition of his work at the highest level. Takashi Murakami is undoubtedly an influential personality in the field of contemporary art.

His versatility and striving for creative further development make him an inspiring figure for artists worldwide. With his works, he not only leaves a lasting impression, but also contributes to the fact that art is perceived as an important part of our society.

Where can you buy works of art from Takashi Murakami?

On the following websites, online galleries and shops you can purchase originals and unique pieces by the Japanese Neo Pop artist:

• Rise
• FinearArtMultiple
• artnet
• Artsper
• Lumas