Takashi Murakami
Kaikai Kiki started as the personal production studio of artist Takashi Murakami and has since expanded its scope to include management of art and derivative businesses surrounding art, as well as gallery operations, among other things. Currently, the company has a permanent staff of around 250 (including employees of branch offices outside Japan) and around 100 exclusive subcontractors.
Kaikai Kiki Prehistory, 1991-
In 1991, Kaikai Kiki founder Takashi Murakami held “Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music Doctoral Course Research Exhibition: Takashi Murakami Exhibition”. The studio classroom in the university building was his default production space, but since starting to create contemporary art works, he had been searching for material suppliers and assemblers in the Yellow Pages (telephone directory) and calling them up, combining the various elements to produce ready-made style works, including school backpacks, balloons, giant objet d’art, etc.
His routine was to call and communicate with the vendors from his apartment, spend most of the day making visits and working outside the studio, and only see the finished artwork for the first time at the exhibition site. Since he couldn’t outsource intricate work, he started a group production with his students from the prep school as his volunteer staff.
Still, the extent of their collective work back then was to gather in Murakami’s apartment and build hundreds of plastic models.
After traveling to New York and understanding the state of art in the U.S., he realized that his ready-made style work would be seen as inferior to those of American artists. In order to create works of art unique to him, he thought it would be important to present the proof of his Japanese-ness and began creating handmade paintings requiring detailed manual work.
That was when he started the collective style of painting production with many assistants. This was perceived as an anomaly in the Japanese art world, where the majority of people had a notion of an artist as a lofty and solitary individualist. It was met by substantial backlash, which has not subsided even to this day.
This collective work was also initially viewed as bizarre in the Western art scene. Even in countries with a history of collective art production and workshops, such as those of Michelangelo and Rembrandt, it was met by surprise, which in turn surprised Murakami.
And yet, it was already a common practice in the film, animation, and fashion industries, and from the perspective of art history, too, collective art production can be recognized as a historical inevitability, as evidenced by the existence of the Kanō school, a group of artisan painters that dominated the Edo period.
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.
- 1993
Tokyo University of the Arts, P.h.D
- 1962
Born in Tokyo, Japan
- 2024
“Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto”, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum, Kyoto, Japan
“Takashi Murakami”, Tarmak22, Gstaad, Switzerland
- 2023
“Takashi Murakami: MurakamiZombie”, Busan Museum of Art, Busan, South Korea
“Shin Murata&Takashi Murakami: Homage to Kosometsuke and Rosanjin”, Otsuka Fine Art, Tokyo, Japan
“Understanding the New Cognitive Domain”, Gagosian, Le Bourget, France
“Takashi Murakami: Swelling of Monsterized Human Ego”, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
“Still Lifes with Flowers”, Perrotin, Shanghai, China
- 2022
“An Arrow through History”, Gagosian, New York, USA
“Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow”, The Broad, Los Angeles, USA
“Takashi Murakami”, Perrotin, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- 2020
“Michel Majerus Superflat”, Michel Majerus Estate, Berlin, Germany
- 2019
“GYATEI²”, Gagosian, Beverly Hills, USA
“TAKASHI MURAKAMI: MURAKAMI VS MURAKAMI”, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong, China
“From Superflat to Bubblewrap”, STPI, Singapore
“Baka”, Perrotin, Paris, France
“MURAKAMI POR MURAKAMI”, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, Sao Paulo, Brazil
“Superflat Doraemon”, Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan
- 2018
“TAKASHI MURAKAMI IN WONDERLAND”, Perrotin, Shanghai, China
“Murakami&Abloh: AMERICA TOO”, Gagosian, Beverly Hills, USA
“Change the Rule!”, Gagosian, Hong Kong, China
“Murakami & Abloh: TECHNICOLOR 2”, Gagosian, Paris, France
“TAKASHI MURAKAMI: THE OCTOPUS EATS ITS OWN LEG”, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
“HEADS↔HEADS”, Perrotin, New York, USA
“Murakami & Abloh: future history”, Gagosian, London, UK
- 2017
“The Deep End of the Universe” Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA
“Takashi Murakami : Lineage of Eccentrics,A Collaboration with Nobuo Tsuji and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston” Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
“Under the Radiation Falls” Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
“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, New York, USA
“ARHAT CYCLE” Palazzo Reale di Milano , Milano, Italy
- 2013
“Takashi in Superflat Wonderland” PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art , Seoul, Korea
“Solo Exhibition” Perrotin, Hong Kong, USA
“ARHAT” Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA
- 2012
“Flowers & Skulls” Gagosian, Hong Kong
“Murakami – Ego” Al Riwaq Exhibition Hall, Doha, Qatar
- 2011
“Solo Exhibition” Gagosian, London, UK
- 2010
“Solo Exhibition” Gagosian, 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” Perrotin, Paris, France
“©MURAKAMI” Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
- 2008
“Davy Jone’s Tear,” Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA
“©MURAKAMI”Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
- 2007
“©MURAKAMI” Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA
“Tranquility of the heart, torment of the flesh ― open wide the eye of the heart, and nothing is invisible” Gagosian, New York, USA
- 2002
“Takashi Murakami Kaikai Kiki” , Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
- 2001
“Summon monsters? Open the door? Heal? Or die?”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
- 2021
“Healing”, Perrotin, Shanghai, China
“HEALING×HEALING”, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
“2021 Kaikai Kiki Autumn Show”, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
“GEIBI KAKUSHIN (“L’innovation esthétique dans l’art de la céramique japonaise”)”, Perrotin, Paris, France
- 2020
“Healing”, Perrotin, Seoul, South Korea; Paris, France
- 2019
“2019 Kaikai Kiki Summer Show”, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- 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; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
- 2015
“Kazunori Hamana, Yuji Ueda, Otani Workshop: Curated by Takashi Murakami” Blum and Poe Gallery, Los Angeles; Blum and Poe Gallery, New York, USA
- 2005
“Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture” Japan Society, New York, USA
- 2004
“Tokyo Girls Bravo” Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
“Chiho Aoshima, Mr., and Aya Takano” Gallery Emmanuel Perrotin at LFL Gallery, New York, USA- 2002
“Coloriage” Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
- 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, USA- 2000
“Superflat” Parco Gallery, Tokyo; and Parco Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
“Aya Takano: Hot Banana Fudge” NADiff, Tokyo; George’s, Los Angeles, USA
- 1999
“Hiropon 32/80” NADiff, Tokyo, Japan
“Tokyo Girls Bravo” NADiff, Tokyo; and George’s, Los Angeles, USA
“Hiropon Show” Parco Gallery, Nagoya, Japan; and Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- 1998
“Mr.: O-Edo Kunoichi Ninpocho” Shop 33, Tokyo, Japan
“Ero Pop Tokyo” George’s, Los Angeles, USA
- 1997
“Aya Takano: God Is Coming” Shop 33, Tokyo, Japan
“Tokyo Sex” NAS, Tokyo, Japan
“Hiropon Show” Shop 33, Tokyo; Manken Gallery, Kanazawa College of Arts, Kanazawa, Japan; and Iwataya Z-SIDE W<, Fukuoka, Japan
- 1996
“Mr. Solo Exhibition: Frone & Perrine” Shop 33, Tokyo, Japan
“Pico Pico Show” Saga-cho bis, Tokyo, Japan
- 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
- 2020
“STARS: Six Contemporary Artists from Japan to the World”, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
- 2019
“Monsters, Manga & Murakami”, Herbe Museum, Paris, France
“Japan supernatural”, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia
“Rhapsody of a Foolish Family: Fukujuro, Takashi, and Yuji Murakami”, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo Japan
- 2018
“IN TUNE WITH THE WORLD”, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France
- 2017
“THE DORAEMON EXHIBITION TOKYO”, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
AWARD
- 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
- 2024
John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award
- 2022
Webby Special Achievement Award
- 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
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