Murakami Takashi was born in Tokyo in 1962. In 1993, he obtained a doctoral degree in the Department of Fine Arts from Tokyo University of the Arts. After receiving eleven years of traditional Japanese art education, he completely abandoned those things and began his distinctive contemporary art creation. This artist, born after the war and raised in the economically prosperous and material rich urban area of Tokyo, was deeply influenced by Japanese anime and manga. The flat image of the work looks both like a doll and a model toy on the surface, blending cuteness, sexual fantasy, and extreme violence, with a strong cartoon and comic color. However, in reality, it reflects the cultural connotations of Japan. As artworks, they are difficult to distinguish from commerce, both modern and traceable to traditional roots, and can be appreciated by everyone. Every time an exhibition is held, rebellious children in their early twenties and elderly men and women in their seventies and eighties are all his audience. No one stands in front of his works and makes puzzled expressions, but everyone is happy to see them.
Murakami Takashi is the only visual artist among the 100 most influential figures selected by Time magazine. He is also one of the hottest trendy artists today and is known as a leading figure in “New Pop Art”.
He is known as one of the three contemporary artists in Japan, along with Yoshitomo Nara and Yayoi Kusama.
In Murakami’s view, toys are not just for children to play with, art-toys are the spiritual light for adults.Murakami Takashi used exaggeration, recombination, and deformation to orderly assemble the elements of sunflowers, using over 500 colors, seemingly identical but with varying variations.
Murakami Takashi proposed the theories of “Superflat” and “childish power”. His works integrate the opposing elements between Eastern tradition and Western civilization, as well as between elegant art and popular culture. It is a product that combines the characteristics of contemporary Japanese popular cartoon art and traditional Japanese painting style.
The classic character “Mr. DOB” created by Murakami Takashi combines a popular cultural video game character and an American cartoon character, Murakami Takashi once explained the process of his creation: “The three letters DOB created his facial appearance, which was actually inspired by” Japanese manga ” Language art often believes that the more complete the use of words, the better, but I advocate simplifying everything, The birth of Mr.DOB originated from self reflection on social phenomena, but after its birth, it seemed as if it had its own life; At first, there were only simple and flat faces, but later different forms emerged, full of experimental properties, becoming increasingly rich and complex.
Murakami Takashi attempted to define his works with style, which led to the birth of Mr. DOB. This seemingly intermediate character between Mickey Mouse and Sonic Kid, some say it is another incarnation of Murakami Takashi, but in any case, it showcases the personality of Japanese anime characters.
The setting of MELTING DOB has a dual personality, with different facial expressions on both sides, a cunning smile and half closed eyes on one side, and colorful pupils and mischievous faces on the other.
Murakami Takashi is also a darling of cross-border cooperation.Among the numerous collaborations by Murakami Takashi, his collaboration with Louis Vuitton, which lasted for 13 years, was the most classic. At that time, it was truly super popular. The IT Bag, Multicolor, Cherry, Cherry Blossom and other designs that truly lived up to the name, have also become one of Louis Vuitton’s most classic handbags, and are still being talked about by people today.
