Takashi Murakami was born in Tokyo on February 1st, 1962, and his works have made him internationally famous. He studied at the Tōkyō Geijutsu Daigaku. He became internationally known for paintings that refer primarily to otaku subculture, taking their motifs out of their context and depicting them in isolation or placing them in other contexts. His collaboration with the design brand Louis Vuitton and with the musician Kanye West and the music band Kids See Ghosts had media impact. Since then, Murakami has been scrutinized as an artist on the one hand, and has become popular as a border crosser between art, design and pop culture on the other.
Murakami himself calls his art “superflat.” With this, he refers to the lack of perspective and depth in his paintings in only one of several dimensions. In his book “The Meaning of the Nonsense of the Meaning”, he formulates “Superflat” as a philosophical theory about Japanese culture.
In 2001, Murakami founded Kaikai Kiki Co. which grew out of his former studio Hiropon Factory. Kaikai Kiki Co. serves to produce and market the art objects themselves, as well as merchandising items or animated films. In addition to Murakami, Kaikai Kiki Co. also represents younger Japanese artists and brokers collaborations between the artists and fashion labels or the music scene.