Takashi Murakami is an inventor. He created his own style birthed from the soul of ancient Japanese art. Like Hip-Hop was birthed from soul music, Murakami's Superflat artwork was incubated when he was pursuing a doctorate in Nihonga, a mixture of Western and Eastern styles dating back to the late 19th century. Murakami like most hip-hop heads fixated on two Asian entertainment arts--- anime and manga.
Yes, I said it. Many hip-hop heads have a hidden love for Asian martial arts movies, anime, manga, and urban Asian fashion. This explains the recent phenomenon of mediocre graphic designed T-Shirts, poor faux vintage denim, and bad colorwise sneakers flooding some urban and all suburban communities.
I digress. Murakami became disillusioned with Nihonga, and fell in love with otaku culture, which he feels closely represents modern day Japanese life. Murakami armed with his Superflat style focused his energy on making Poku (Pop and otaku aka nerd) culture popular. He believes animation and otaku will be the leaders of trend setter culture. This new culture will rejuvenate the contemporary Japanese art scene. He is dully quoted as saying that the Japanese contemporary market is nothing but "a shallow appropriation of Western trends." His stance against Japan's love for post-war Western culture is very similar to Hip-Hop's societal rebellious attitude. His first reaction was to make art in non-fine arts media, instead to focus on the market sustainability of art and promote himself first overseas. This mindset led to his creation of KaiKai Kiki, LLC. KaiKai Kiki has grown into a professionalized art production studio and also an artist management organization.
Kaikai Kiki represents a great opportunity for hungry creative artists to develop under the watchful eye of Murakami. In grand high-fashion and urban creative culture respected style, Murakami took over Roppongi's Rolling Stones Cafe with an opening party to commemorate both Kaikai Kiki's roster of artists and commencement of his new gallery. Google Translation of Openers Fashion Coverage of the Event
Murakami has the soul of a bonifide hustler. He is very unapologetic for what he believes; he forms alliances with the right people and companies; he isn't a guy out to sacrifice capital gains for a social message, yet all his work has some social message; and he doesn't give two yen what anyone thinks of him as a person. Murakami is young at heart. Hell, the man is seen running around chasing the finer things in life with Kanye West. He does Louis Vuitton pieces, but is rarely seen rocking the brand. His swagger is similar to Jay-Z thrown in a blender with Dame Dash. I think that is the recipe for a celebrated personal life and calculated business life.
Thirty years from now, society will be dissecting his art and wondering why in the hell did he accept Hip-Hop as his voice. One thing is for sure. Murakami has changed pop culture and trend setter culture in one single swoop with his Superflat art style.
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