Takashi Murakami Japanese Pop Culture Artist

Welcome to my Hub Page on Takashi Murakami, A Japanese pop artist and sculptor who entered the world stage after collaborations with American Marc Jacob's to design a new range of Louis Vuitton hand bags for the new generation and youth market. Most famous was the Cherry Bloom prints and the Multi-coloured LV monogram prints. He is also the founder of a postmodern art movement called "Superflat" influence by his love of Manga and Anime. The term Superflat is used by Murakami to refer to forms of Japanese graphic art, animation, pop culture, fine arts reflecting the shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture.

Here you will find an introduction to Murakami and his art along with a fun and creative works from his SuperFlat movement.

Note: This Hub Page is a work in progress and feedback are welcomed.

Takashi Murakami is an internationally renowned Japanese pop artist. Who's influences include Japanese Manga and Anime. Murakami uses a range of mediums for his artistic works including painting, sculptures and other more commercial mediums such as fashion, merchandise and animation.

In 2000, Takashi Murakami also founded a post-modern art movement and coined the term "Superflat" for the movement and to describe both the aesthetic characteristics of the Japanese artistic tradition and the nature of post-war Japanese culture and society.

The term "Superflat" is used by Murakami to refer to various flattened forms in Japanese graphic art, animation, pop culture and fine arts, but also to describe the "shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture."

The Superflat theory states the differences in social class and popular taste have 'flattened,' during post war Japan producing a culture with little distinction between the 'high' and 'low. This convergence is practised by Murakami's himself in his creation of art which involves the repackaging of elements that are usually considered "low end" or subcultural art and presenting them in the form of "high end art". Muramkai also uses this same idea in reverse to further flattens the playing field by repackaging his "high-end art" works as merchandise, such as plush toys and T-shirts, making them commercially available and more affordable.

This unique idea has produced a niche branding art phenomenon which was highly successful in the USA and introduced Takashi Murkami and Japanese pop art to the world.

The word "Superflat" has also been used to describe Murakami's own artistic style and other Japanese artists he has influenced. These include artists such as Chiho Aoshima, Mahomi Kunikata, Sayuri Michima, Yoshitomo Nara, Tatsuyuki Tanaka and Aya Takano. In addition, some animators within anime and some manga artist are considered "Superflat", especially Koji Morimoto, and the work of Hitoshi Tomizawa, author of Alien 9 and Milk Closet.

In 2001 a Superflat art exhibition curated by Murakami toured parts of the USA including The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Following which in 2002, American fashion designer Marc Jacobs working for Louis Vuitton invited Murakami to work with him and thus began his long-lasting collaboration with the fashion brand Louis Vuitton. Murakami began by contributing artworks which was used in the design of a series of LV handbags. The series re-defined the fashion house's signature monogram and was a huge commercial success, Most noticeable the cherry bloom and multi coloured LV monogram.

Although Takashi Murkami had previously collaborated with other fashion designers such as Issey Miyake Men by Naoki Takizawa, his work with Louis Vuitton won him widespread fame and notoriety as an artist who blurs the line between 'high art' and commercialism and elevated him to celebrity status in his home country of Japan.

Superflat First Love by Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton is a short anime film created to celebrate six years of collaboration between Murakami and Vuitton

Head of the Palace of Versailles -Jean-Jacques Aillagon talks about Murakami

Interview with Takashi Murakami during his 2010 exhibition at the Chateau de Versailles near Paris, France. Interview by Christophe Ecoffet.

Superflat is a postmodern art movement, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime

Japanorama was a series of BBC documentaries presented by Jonathan Ross from 2002-2007, exploring various facets of popular culture and trends of modern-day Japan. Each episode had a theme, around which he presented cultural phenomena, films, music, and art that exemplify facets of Japan. In Season 3 of Japanorama episode 3 about J-Art or Japanese pop culture, This episode introduces Takashi Murakami, one of Japan's most influential Artist who started his own artistic movement called "Superflat" which is a concept describing the flatting of culture and society today in modern japan.