okusendō

Takashi Murakami

B 1962, Japanese

Takashi Murakami is one of the most influential and widely recognized artists working today, known for blending traditional Japanese art with anime, manga, and global popular culture. He studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts, where he specialized in Nihonga, a style of traditional Japanese painting using mineral pigment, but soon became dissatisfied with the boundaries between fine art and commercial culture. In response, Murakami developed his influential “Superflat” theory, which described both the flatness of Japanese visual culture and the collapse of distinctions between high and low art. His brightly colored paintings, sculptures, brand partnerships, and immersive installations have achieved worldwide recognition and transformed the global perception of contemporary Japanese art.

The three prints available at okusendō are from Murakami’s 2012 series A Tribute to Yves Klein. Produced through his Tokyo-based studio KaiKai KiKi, these were part of a limited print run of 300 per colorway based on paintings from a 2011 exhibition in Paris that paired Klein’s monochromatic paintings with Murakami’s interpretations. The Superflat aesthetic and Murakami’s universe of characters are refracted through a monochromatic lens, establishing a conversation with the Klein works on even an artist’s signature achievement escapes them and becomes open to interpretation. The most direct of these works in this vein is Homage to IKB 1957, in which the iconic International Klein Blue is filtered through Murakami’s cartoon daisies for a humorous but identifiable take on monochrome. Homage to Yves Klein, Monopink plays in a similar fashion while Homage to Yves Klein, Multicolor injects classic Klein colors intoa the most recognizable Murakami composition. Each print is signed and editioned and comes with authentication paperwork. 

The 2003 print edition of 727 is a collaboration between KaiKai KiKi and Tomio Koyama, the Roppongi-based contemporary gallery that represented Murakami at the beginning of his career. The original painting, now in the permanent collection of MoMA, is considered Murakami’s fine art debut and the first work fully reflecting his Superflat series. It depicts Mr. DOB, a character and alter ego of the artist designed with echoes of Mickey Mouse and manga, riding a stylized wave, a reference to Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, on a mottled metallic background. 

This print features the printed inscription “727” 1996-2003 Takashi Murakami/KaiKai KiKi, All Rights Reserved, Collection: Davit Teiger/ Courtesy Tomio Koyama Gallery, Blum&Poe as well as Murakami’s signature and numbered edition. This demonstrates the print was part of the 2003 lithograph printing. The 2003 Tomio Koyama edition is seen as one of the most important prints in Murakami’s catalogue because it comes from the period before he became a global luxury-culture figure. It is tied to the moment when his ideas about Superflat, Mr. DOB, and postwar Japanese culture were first gaining international museum recognition. Citing it was from the collection of Davit Teiger, this means the print was made prior to MoMA’s acquisition, and before Blum&Poe became the mega-gallery BLUM. While other versions of the image are also popular for their color variations, this print is important as a historical marker as much as an art object. Featuring a metallic finish on high quality art paper, it is easy to see the care and involvement of the artist and his studio in one of his earliest editioned works.