Takashi Murakami
Photo Chika Okazumi

Profile

Takashi Murakami is the originator of the “Superflat” Theory and the artist most associated with its tenets.
He has maintained a multifaceted career as an artist, curator, collector, film director, and the founder of Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

As a curator, Murakami organized a trilogy of exhibitions, beginning with SUPERFLAT ( which traveled from Parco Gallery, Shibuya to MOCA, Los Angeles and other museums) and continuing with Coloriage (Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain), and ending with Little Boy (NY Japan Society), which was awarded the prize for Best Thematic Show by AICA-USA (International Association of Art Critics United States).

In 2016, the first episode of the original anime series 6HP (Six Hearts Princess) was aired on TV. He is currently preparing to release a new live action feature film, Jellyfish Eyes 2.

Career
1993 Tokyo University of the Arts, P.h.D
1962 Born in Tokyo, Japan

Awards

Domestic
2016 66th The Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts
2008 GQ Men of the Year 2008 Awards
2006 11th AMD Awards, Prize of Recognition (Digital Contents of The Year’05)
Heisei 17 (56th) Educational Minister Rookie of the Year, Awarded by the Agency for Cultural Affairs for the Advancement of Art
2004 Les Compagnons du Beaujolais, Honorary Knighthood
Tag Heuer Business Award
2003 Special Award, 46th Japan Fashion Editor Club (FEC) Awards
International
2008 Time The Most Influential People In The World 100
2006 Best Thematic Museum Show in New York, AICA USA
2005 Japan Society Imajiné Award
1998 Visiting Professor, School of Art and Architecture, UCLA, Los Angeles
1994-95 Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, P.S.1 International Studio Program
Solo Exhibitions
2019 "MURAKAMI POR MURAKAMI" Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil
"Superflat Doraemon" Galerie Perrotin, Tokyo
"BAKA" Galerie Perrotin, Paris
"From Superflat to Bubblewrap" STPI, Singapore
"MURAKAMI VS MURAKAMI" Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
"GYATEI²" Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles
2018 "TAKASHI MURAKAMI IN WONDERLAND" Galerie Perrotin, Shanghai
"AMERICA TOO" Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles
"Change the Rule!" Gagosian Gallery, Hong Kong
"TECHNICOLOR 2" Gagosian Gallery, Paris
"Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg" Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth
"Heads↔︎Heads" Galerie Perrotin, New York
"Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg" Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
"future history" Gagosian Gallery, Davies Street, London
2017 “The Deep End of the Universe” Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
“Takashi Murakami : Lineage of Eccentrics,A Collaboration with Nobuo Tsuji and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston” Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“Under the Radiation Falls” Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow
“The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg” Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago
“Murakami by Murakami” Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway
2016 “Learning the Magic of Painting” Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
2015 "MURAKAMI TAKASHI: THE 500 ARHATS" Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
"Ensō" Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
"Solo Exhibition" Art Projects Ibiza, Lune Rouge, Ibiza Gran Hotel, HEART Ibiza, Ibiza, Spain
2014 "In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow" Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY
"ARHAT CYCLE" Palazzo Reale di Milano , Milano, Italy
2013 "Takashi in Superflat Wonderland" PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art , Seoul, Korea
"Solo Exhibition" Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong
"ARHAT" Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
2012 "Flowers & Skulls" Gagosian Gallery, Hong Kong
"Murakami – Ego" Al Riwaq Exhibition Hall, Doha, Qatar
2011 "Solo Exhibition" Gagosian Gallery, London, England
2010 "Solo Exhibition" Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Italy
"MURAKAMI VERSAILLES" Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France
2009 "I Love Prints and So I Make Them" ARKI Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
"I Love Prints and So I Make Them" Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
"Takashi Murakami Paints Self Portraits" Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
"©MURAKAMI" Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
2008 “Davy Jone’s Tear,” Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
"©MURAKAMI"Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
2007 "©MURAKAMI" Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
"Tranquility of the heart, torment of the flesh ― open wide the eye of the heart, and nothing is invisible" Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY
Curated Exhibitions
2018 "Bubblewrap After Mono-ha, the next established art movement is Superflat, but that means the interim period overlapping the years of Japan's economic bubble has yet to be named, and I think calling it "Bubblewrap" suits it well. It especially makes sense if you incorporate the realm of ceramics. This show will contemplate this period through works including those from Takashi Murakami's collection." CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM KUMAMOTO , Kumamoto, Japan
2016 "Juxtapoz x Superflat: Curated by Takashi Murakami and Evan Pricco" Pivot Art and Culture, Seattle; and Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
2015 "Kazunori Hamana, Yuji Ueda, Otani Workshop: Curated by Takashi Murakami" Blum and Poe Gallery, Los Angeles; Blum and Poe Gallery, New York
2005 "Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture" Japan Society, New York
2004 "Tokyo Girls Bravo" Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
"Chiho Aoshima, Mr., and Aya Takano" Gallery Emmanuel Perrotin at LFL Gallery, New York
2002 "Coloriage" Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
2001 "Hiropon Show" Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
"Superflat" Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle
2000 "Superflat" Parco Gallery, Tokyo; and Parco Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
"Aya Takano: Hot Banana Fudge" NADiff, Tokyo; George’s, Los Angeles
1999 "Hiropon 32/80" NADiff, Tokyo
"Tokyo Girls Bravo" NADiff, Tokyo; and George’s, Los Angeles
"Hiropon Show" Parco Gallery, Nagoya, Japan; and Parco Gallery, Tokyo
1998 "Mr.: O-Edo Kunoichi Ninpocho" Shop 33, Tokyo
"Ero Pop Tokyo" George’s, Los Angeles
1997 "Aya Takano: God Is Coming" Shop 33, Tokyo
"Tokyo Sex" NAS, Tokyo
"Hiropon Show" Shop 33, Tokyo; Manken Gallery, Kanazawa College of Arts, Kanazawa, Japan; and Iwataya Z-SIDE W&LT, Fukuoka, Japan
1996 "Mr. Solo Exhibition: Frone & Perrine" Shop 33, Tokyo
"Pico Pico Show" Saga-cho bis, Tokyo
Collection Exhibitions
2017 “Takashi Murakami's Superflat Consideration on Contemporary Ceramics” Towada Art Center, Aomori, Japan
2016 "Takashi Murakami's Superflat Collection From Soga Shohaku and Kitaoji Rosanjin to Anselm Kiefer" Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan
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