Artist Connection: Takashi Murakami

TAKASHI MURAKAMI

Further research after reading Contemporary art and its commercial markets... by Maria Lind and Olav Velthuis.
It would appear Murakami shares similarities with Warhol for his creation of a 'factory'. "He founded the Hiropon factory in Tokyo in 1996, which later evolved into Kaikai Kiki, an art production and art management corporation." (Gagosian, 2016).

"Takashi Murakami has stated that the artist is someone who understands the borders between worlds and who makes an effort to know them. With his distinctive “Superflat” style and ethos, which employs highly refined classical Japanese painting techniques to depict a super-charged mix of Pop, animé and otaku content within a flattened representational picture-plane, he moves freely within an ever-expanding field of aesthetic issues and cultural inspirations." (Gagosian, 2016).

In terms of context, his links between consumerism and art seem to have paved the way for other artists. "Not stopping with the production of artworks, Murakami shocked the world with his entrepreneurial collaboration with Louis Vuitton, when he challenged the divide between art and commerce." Kaikai Kiki, 2016).

Superflat style

Murakami coined a style of art which was a mixture of anime and traditional Japanese block print influences (Hyperallergic, 2010).

Murakami x Louis Vuitton

how much does his work sell for?

Takashi Murakami’s diptych The World of Sphere (2003)

Of course, I am most intrigued by the selling price of his art work. Above, Murakami's piece 'The world of Sphere' "sold for $2 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in fall 2013" (Artnet News, 2014). His other works seem so sell for that and more.

materials

Takashi Murakami, Invoking the Vitality of a Universe Beyond Imagination, 2014, mixed media, 32 5/16 × 78 3/4 × 37 inches (82 × 200 × 94 cm) © 2014 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

While browsing Artnews I read Murakami uses acrylic, gold leaf, platinum leaf, and that is what I am planning to experiment with now. The above piece of artwork is platinum plated (Artnews, 2015) to again, it has a strong connection with luxury materials.

Bibliography

Gagosian (2016) Takashi Murakami. Gagosian Gallery Online. Available from http://www.gagosian.com/artists/takashi-murakami [Accessed 25/10/16]. 

Kaikai Kiki (2016) Artists Takashi Murakami. Kaikai Kiki Online. Available from http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp/artists/list/C4/ [Accessed 25/10/16]. 

Art News 2015. Image of Murakami x Louis Vuitton Bag. http://www.artnews.com/2015/07/21/louis-vuitton-ends-its-13-year-relationship-with-takashi-murakami/

Hyperallergic (2010). WTF... is superflat? http://hyperallergic.com/11659/wtf-is-superflat/

Artnews (2015) http://www.artnews.com/2015/01/29/takashi-murakami-at-gagosian/ 

Artnet News (2014) https://news.artnet.com/market/art-market-analysis-why-collectors-love-takashi-murakami-part-2-162123.
This article contains lots of references to the art market and prices of artworks including comments on Koons and Hirst.