Takashi Murakami hardly needs an introduction, yet, these days, he feels the need to retrace his roots. Ahead of debuting new art and an NFT project called Murakami.Flowers, the Japanese artist has been taking his Instagram followers for a stroll down memory lane. From reflections on his childhood love of anime, to his studies in traditional Japanese painting, to his multi-million dollar art auctions and coveted collaborations, Murakami has been an artistic trailblazer. At the same time, he seems to be looking back in order to move forward, pondering new ways to expand his legacy.
Murakami is an artist of the people, someone whose work is firmly in the art history books and major collections while being accessibly priced as merchandise. He’s collaborated with luxury fashion brands (most famously Louis Vuitton) and musicians (recently J Balvin and Billie Eilish) while exhibiting the works of other artists in his art galleries and cafés in Tokyo. No medium or outlet of expression has been off-limits, so it’s unsurprising that he’s already taken to NFTs, even despite their nascent arrival in the contemporary art world.
Following a blockbuster NFT collaboration with RTFKT (the company recently acquired by Nike), Murakami announced the release of Murakami.Flowers: digital, pixelated interpretations of his beloved flower motif. With its cute, cartoonish appearance, the flower unites classic Japanese nature painting with inspiration from anime and Murakami’s self-described “superflat” aesthetic. After a false start in 2021, Murakami re-announced the project, and its 11,664 handmade flowers, with a spring 2022 release. Around the same time, he began hinting at a connective exhibition at Gagosian Gallery in New York City, opening on May 11, 2022.
Murakami says his team has been working on Murakami.Flowers non-stop since last fall, weaving in influences from Buddhism to gaming. Through the project’s email newsletter, he’s been contemplating the value shift he sees with NFTs and sharing his embrace of this new frontier. Speaking exclusively with AD, Takashi Murakami tells us the origin story of Murakami.Flowers and talks about his new exhibition at Gagosian.